ChileanJAR

Phytomass and seed production of 21 accessions of Medicago polymorpha of different precocity, were evaluated under several cutting heights in the interior unirrigated land of Cauquenes. The experiment was sowed in raised beds, in microplots, for two years (1991 and 1992). No significant interaction was found between accessions and height of cut, in consequence, in all accessions total phytomass, pod and seed production increased as the height ofthe residual increased (from 2 to 10 cm), after each cut. Early fiowering accessions having a great seed yield, and intermediate precocity accessions having both high seed yield and phytomass production, were identify. Total phytomass production was negatively related with days to fiowering (r = 0.9; P< 0.0 1). Early fiowering accessions showed greater winter production relative to the total phytomass, and higher percentage ofthe phytomass invested in pods and seeds, compared with late fiowering accessions.