Gene bank of perennial ryegrass and red clover in Slovenia

Abstract

Among other plant species, Slovenian gene bank also includes perennial ryegrass and red clover. This paper briefly presents the history of gene bank of herbage grasses and legumes and ex situ collection of ecotype populations of perennial ryegrass and red clover kept at Biotechnical Faculty in Ljubljana. It also describes specific work activities on this gene bank and gives selected results obtained at characterisation and evaluation of the ecotype populations of the two species. At Biotechnical Faculty, organized gene bank work on perennial ryegrass and red clover species has functioned since 1989. This gene bank is comprised of 71 accessions of perennial ryegrass ecotypes and 104 accessions of red clover ecotypes. Due to traditional and locally related management of semi-natural grasslands and diverse environmental conditions present in Slovenia there are quite a lot of possibilities to continue with ecotype collecting of these two species. Ecotypes have been collected as seed from smaller grassland areas, temporary excluded from forage production. Such exclusion is not needed in the case of extensive production systems. Multiplication of each ecotype requires isolation against outer pollen for both species whereas the use of bumblebees’ colonies as pollinators for red clover is additionally required. In the estimated traits, ecotypes of both species differed among themselves and from the cultivars. On average, intra-ecotype variability is higher in some cases and lower in others compared to the intra-cultivar one. Agronomic value of the ecotypes, based on measured traits, is lower in most cases than that of cultivars.