Impact of water deficit in the relationship among alfalfa traits

Authors

  • Iara Gonçalves dos Santos Universidade Federal de Viçosa
  • Paulo Eduardo Teodoro Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul
  • Cosme Damião Cruz Universidade Federal de Viçosa
  • Reinaldo de Paula Ferreira Embrapa Gado de Leite

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14393/BJ-v36n3a2020-41869

Keywords:

Medicago sativa, path analysis, correlations, dry matter biomass.

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the relationship among traits related to yield and nutritive value of alfalfa genotypes grown under deficit and full irrigation conditions. Seventy-seven alfalfa genotypes were evaluated in two different cuts, the first one with full irrigation, and the second, with water deficit. A randomized block design with three replications was used. The evaluated traits were vigor, plant height, dry matter biomass, stem-to-leaf ratio, dry matter percentage, leaf and stem protein contents, in vitro dry matter digestibility, neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber, and lignin. Significant interaction between genotypes and environments was reported for vigor, plant height, and lignin. The correlation between traits and path analysis of dry matter biomass was performed for each cut, aiming to identify auxiliary traits for indirect selection. Water availability did not alter the phenotypic and genotypic correlations, only their magnitudes. Regardless of the environment, plant height is one of the most promising traits for the selection of alfalfa genotypes with higher dry matter biomass since it showed a high direct effect in the same sense of its phenotypic correlations. However, the coefficient of determination obtained by the model applied to full irrigation was higher than that of the water-deficit environment, indicating the importance of variables not included in this study in the determination of alfalfa dry matter biomass under dry conditions.

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Published

2020-04-13

How to Cite

SANTOS, I.G. dos, TEODORO, P.E., CRUZ, C.D. and FERREIRA, R. de P., 2020. Impact of water deficit in the relationship among alfalfa traits. Bioscience Journal [online], vol. 36, no. 3, pp. 905–913. [Accessed3 December 2024]. DOI 10.14393/BJ-v36n3a2020-41869. Available from: https://seer.ufu.br/index.php/biosciencejournal/article/view/41869.

Issue

Section

Agricultural Sciences