Basic Aspects, Objectives and Preliminary Results of a Subterranean Clover Improvement Program in Sardinia (Italy)

Abstract

The process of extended agronomical rehabilitation of the heavily deteriorated pastures, activated in Sardinia in the 1970\u27s, has been largely supported by the introduction of subterranean clover (Trifolium subterranuem L. sensu lato) as a cultivated plant in the island. Although this annual self-reseeding species has readily become the most widely sown pasture legume in Sardinia, the broadscale use of imported varieties has not always been an unqualified success, particularly in terms of long-term persist­ence. Therefore, the need to define clearly the particular combi­nation of characters contributing to adaptation in Sardinia, and to develop local varieties specifically adjusted to Sardi­nian climatic and edaphic conditions, has been invoked for a better exploitation of the potentialities of subterranean clover. According to these requirements, a selection program was activated in the early 1980\u27s. Some basic aspects, objectives and preliminary results of this program are summarized in this paper