Morphological Characters in Spaced Plants Associated with Forage Yield under Sward Conditions in Timothy (Phleum pratenseL.)

The purpose of this investigation was to relate morphological and other characters in spaced plants of timothy to yield capacity under sward conditions. Divergent selections were carried out in spaced plants of four varieties of different origin, two Swedish, one Canadian and one Russian. The characters were: leaf width, leaf length, growth habit, earliness, leaf rigidity, leafiness, plant height, tiller density and frequency of generative tillers as well as height of vegetative tillers in regrowth. The conclusion was that the plant breeder should select for an open tillering ideotype with tall, erect and early plants. The leaves should be long and wide. The regrowth ought to have a high frequency of generative tillers. The effectiveness of selection depends upon the status of the original variety.