Integrated Action of Mixture Rates and Nitrogen Levels on Quantity and Quality of Forage Mixture from Egyptian Clover and Barley in Sandy Soil

Effect of seeding rate mixture from Egyptian clover (Trifolium alexandrinum L.) E.C. and barley (Hordum vulgare L.) B, N-fertilization levels and their interaction on quantity and quality of forage yield. Two field experiments were conducted during winter season of 2012/2013 and 2013/2014 in sandy soil at research and production station of National Research Centre, Al Nubaria district, Al Behaira Governorate, Egypt. The experiment included two factors first was five mixtures from seeding rates (24 kg EC/fed. – 50 kg B/fed. – 18 kg EC + 12.5 kg B/fed. – 12kg EC + 25 kg B/fed. – 6 kg EC + 37.5 kg B/fed.) and second factor was three N levels (30-45-60 kg N/fed.). Two cuts were obtained at 60 and 100 DAS. Results indicated significant differences between mixture rates for all studied characters in both cuts 60 and 100 DAS. Significant differences between N levels for all studied characters at 60 DAS, also, forage yield /fed. and DM% at 100 DAS. It can be introducing forage mixture of 18 kg EC + 12.5 B had balanced character in forage yield/fed., DM%, carbohydrate % and protein % at both cuts 60 and 100 DAS.

Yield and Quality Response of Ryegrass, Egyptian Clover and Their Mixtures to Different Sources of Fertilizers

Two field experiments were conducted during two successive winter seasons of 2008/2009 and 2009/2010 to investigate the potentialities of mixing Egyptian clover with ryegrass under bio, organic and mineral fertilization treatments and their combination to increase forage yield and quality grown under sandy soil conditions. The experiment included the combination of five mixing ratios (Egyptian clover alone, ryegrass alone, 75% Egyptian clover: 25% ryegrass, 50% Egyptian clover: 50% ryegrass and 25% Egyptian clover: 75% ryegrass) and eight fertilizer sources, which include control, organic fertilization, bio fertilization, chemical fertilizer, organic + bio fertilizer, organic + chemical fertilizer, bio + chemical fertilizer and combination of organic and chemical and bio fertilizers. The obtained results indicate the superiority of 75% E. clover: 25% ryegrass mixture fertilizedby Bio + O + N in fresh and dry forage production. On the other hand, it reported the lowest dry weight of weeds g/m2. Chemical analysis of forage plants showed that the mixture of ?75% E. clover: 25% ryegrass surpassed that of other treatments yield for crude protein, ether extract and ash. The results also revealed that the highest record of DCP, crude fiber and TDNY was obtained by forage mixture of 75% E. clover: 25% ryegrass fertilized with Bio + O + N. Such higher yield of these characters hassecured a balanced ratio which is really needed for ruminants ration.

Genetic Diversity and Lineage Based on SSR Markers of Two Genomic Resources among <i>Trifolium</i>Collections Held within the Australian Pastures Genebank

Trifolium alexandrinum, an important forage legume, suffers from narrow genetic base. The present investigation was envisaged to reveal the inter- and intra-species genetic diversity and lineage among 64 accessions, representing a global collection, of T. alexandrinum;it’s two probable progenitor species (T. salmoneum and T. subterraneum) and the three genetically distant species (T. repens, T. vesiculosum, T. michelianum). A set of Simple Sequence Repeats (SSR) primer-pairs developed from T. alexandrinum have shown to amplify alleles across the species under study, suggesting utility of the newly developed resource for assessing molecular diversity among Trifolium species. These SSRs markers together with previously reported SSRs, derived from T. repens, enabled to reveal high intra-species polymorphism in T. alexandrinum and successfully discriminate different species investigated in this study. The diverse accessions determined herein provide a superior resource for further breeding of T. alexandrinum. High allelic similarity of T. alexandrinum with T. subterraneum and T. salmoneum indicated close relatedness among the species, suggesting polyphyletic evolution of T. alexandrinum.