Pure swards of the grassesDactylis glomerata,Holcus lanatus, andLolium perennewere allowed to grow in boxes in a standard growth medium; one additional set of boxes with no grasses was used as a control. After 43 weeks, all aboveground parts of the grasses were removed by harvesting at 2ensp;cm below ground level. Next, clones ofTrifolium repenscollected from patches in a pasture dominated by these three grasses were introduced into each of the grass boxes, in all combinations of grass treatment andT.repensorigin, and allowed to grow for 16 weeks. Both the site of origin of theT.repensclones and the treatment imposed by the grasses had significant influences on the growth and form ofT.repens. Treatment effects were consistent for most characters, and on average, depression of growth was in the following order:DactylisLoliumHolcus control. This ranking differs from that reported by many other studies where either whole plants or shoot systems alone were used as the treatment effects onT.repens.Key words: interference, growth, morphogenesis, roots,Trifolium repens.
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