title: An In Vitro Procedure for Phenotypic Screening of Growth Parameters and Symbiotic Performances in Lotus corniculatus Cultivars Maintained in Different Nutritional Conditions.
abstract: The establishment of legumes crops with phenotypic traits that favour their persistence and competitiveness in mixed swards is a pressing task in sustainable agriculture. However, to fully exploit the potential benefits of introducing pasture-based grass-legume systems, an increased scientific knowledge of legume agronomy for screening of favourable traits is needed. We exploited a short-cut phenotypic screening as a preliminary step to characterize the growth capacity of three differentLotus corniculatuscvs cultivated in different nutritional conditions as well as the evaluation of their nodulation capacities. This experimental scheme, developed for legume species amenable to grow on agar plates conditions, may represent a very preliminary step to achieve phenotypic discrimination on different cultivars.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biosciences and Bioresources, National Council of Research (CNR), Via P. Castellino 111, 80135 Napoli, Italy. vladimir.valkov@ibbr.cnr.it.
authors.forename: Vladimir Totev
authors.initials: VT
authors.lastname: Valkov
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biosciences and Bioresources, National Council of Research (CNR), Via P. Castellino 111, 80135 Napoli, Italy. maurizio.chiurazzi@ibbr.cnr.it.
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chiurazzi
keywords: legumes; phosphate use efficiency; symbiotic nitrogen fixation