PHYSIOLOGICAL STUDIES ON THE GERMINATION AND EARLY SEEDLING GROWTH OF CLOVERS

Abstract

In the field numerous factors operate to influence the germination and establishment of clovers, and Mr Sears, in the final naper in this series, shows how complex the problem is. It is impossible by field observation alone to disentangle the effects of all these factors and to decide in any particular case just which of them have been of importance in giving the observed result. It is thus essential for a better understanding of the behaviour of clover seedlings that certain variables, for instance nutrient supply, should be held constant while studying the effect of controlled variation in another, for example light intensity, and this is only possible under controlled conditions in a laboratory. This does not mean that the results of such findings will be of direct and immediate application in pract.ice, but rather t,hat. without. a knowledge of the fundamental reactions of seedlings to such factors as light, temperature, and nutrient supply, pro,gress in the field will be hampered.