ABSTRACT


Juan C. Bresciani1 y Rod V. Frakes2
 
Twenty-six clones of birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.) were evaluated to determine relationships between seed yield and its components. This relationship was examined by means of simple correlation coefficients. Some seed yield components were found significatively associated with seed yield. Variations in seed yield accounted for by variation in the characteristics measured were calculated by stepwise regression analysis.
The analysis showed that number of cluster per plant (X1) and number of pods per cluster (X3) had the greatest influence on seed yield. When these two variables were acting together, they accounted for 60.49 percent of the variation in seed yield. Total variation due to components was only 65.46 percent. Predicted yields based on regression coefficients did not show significant differences with harvested seed yield. This indicates that seed yield could be estimated by using only these two variables.
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1Ing. Agr., M. S., Centro Producción de Semillas, Estación Experimental La Platina, Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias (INIA); Casilla 5427, Santiago, Chile.
2Profesor de Genética y Mejoramiento de Plantas. Departament of Crop Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 97331, U.S.A.