The action of temperature fluctuations on hard seeds of subterranean clover

1971 ◽  
Vol 11 (51) ◽  
pp. 440 ◽  
Author(s):  
MW Hagon

Burrs of three cultivars of subterranean clover (Trifolium subterraneum) were placed in soil in a cold frame at Canberra so that they were subjected to daily temperature fluctuations of the order of 20-54�C. After three months and eight months the proportion of permeable seeds was significantly increased. Such seeds were conductive to water at one specific region of the testa-the strophiole. In a further experiment, under laboratory conditions, hard seeds were subjected to temperature fluctuations of 23-60�C with cycle lengths varying from 15 minutes to 1 hour. There was no reduction in the percentage of hard seeds except in two trials when that portion of each cycle at 60�C was greater than 45 minutes.

1965 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 277 ◽  
Author(s):  
BN Quinlivan

The length of the growing period in the spring months appears to be a critical factor in the development of hardseededness in subterranean clover (Trifolium subterraneum L.). Environments with relatively long spring growing periods cause a higher proportion of hard seeds to form at field maturity, and increase the resistance which these hard seeds are capable of offering to the softening effects of the following summer environment. During the dry summer period the rate of softening of hard seeds is determined, not only by the previous growing season but also by the summer environment itself. Hot summer environments with wide soil surface temperature fluctuations are conducive to a relatively rapid rate of softening. Grazing or removal of the dry topgrowth from a pasture during the summer increases the daily soil surface temperature fluctuations, and results in the hard seeds softening at an increased rate. Differences in the overall environment manifest themselves in terms of site and seasonal variation in the proportion of hard seeds which survive beyond the opening of the following growing season. The scope for variation is wide, and this has agronomic significance from the aspect of long-term persistence of the species.


1984 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 201 ◽  
Author(s):  
GB Taylor

Burrs of eight varieties of subterranean clover (Trifolium subterraneum L.), which had experienced one summer at the soil surface, were placed on the soil surface and at depths of 2, 6 and 10 cm in the soil. The numbers of residual hard seeds were determined after 1, 2 and 3 years. The effects of laboratory treatment at a diurnally fluctuating temperature of 60/15�C on the softening of buried seeds and of seeds stored in the laboratory for 1 and 3 years were determined. Rate of seed softening in all varieties decreased with increasing depth of burial, apparently because the soil insulated the seeds from high soil surface temperatures. Few seeds of the varieties Northam and Geraldton softened during 3 years of burial at 6 or 10 cm; while, at the other extreme, few seeds of Yarloop survived 3 years at any depth. Some evidence was found for microbial decomposition of hard seeds in the field. Seeds softened more readily at 60/15�C (in the laboratory) as the preceding periods of either laboratory storage or field burial increased. Such storage or burial experiences have a preconditioning effect on hard seeds, making them more amenable to softening once they are subjected to wide diurnal temperature fluctuations. The results indicate that soil tillage associated with cropping should build up a useful soil seed reserve of the harder seeded varieties.


1966 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 625 ◽  
Author(s):  
BJ Quinlivan

Hard seeds of subterranean clover (Trifolium subterraneum L.) of the Geraldton and Bacchus Marsh strains, and of West Australian blue lupin (Lupinus varius L.), were subjected to various daily fluctuating temperatures within the normal summer environmental range (15–75°C). The main factor determining the rate of softening of the hard seeds was the maxinlum temperature of the fluctuation. Provided the temperature changed by some 15°C , the amplitude of the fluctuation did not appear to be a critical factor. The softening of hard seeds of any particular species did not commence until the amplitude of the temperature fluctuation, or the maximum temperature, reached a certain level, which in turn varied with the species. Beyond this level the rate of softening increased with increasing fluctuations to a point where the rate became very rapid, and thereafter wider fluctuations or higher maximum temperatures did not give significant increases.


2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 356-367 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Kramarz ◽  
D. Małek ◽  
K. Naumiec ◽  
K. Zając ◽  
S. M. Drobniak

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