FLOODING TOLERANCE OF LEGUMES

Abstract

According to a greennouse experiment, the relative flooding tolerance of nine legumes was as follows: birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.), white clover (Trifolium repens L.), and strawberry clover (Trifolium fragiferum L.), 20 days; red clover (Trifolium pratense L.), alsike clover (Trifolium hybridum L.), and alfalfa (Medicago media Pers.), 15 days; sweetclover (Melilotus alba Desr.) and cicer milk vetch (Astragalus cicer L.), 10 days; and sainfoin (Onobrychis viciaefolia Scop.), 5 days. Yellowing of leaves was an excellent indicator of flooding damage. Growth of herbage and roots were arrested when the soil became waterlogged, but plants persisted quite well if flooding was not prolonged beyond the tolerance level indicated.