Growth patterns of grasses in the sward

Abstract

Over the last 30 or 40 years we have witnessed a tremendous improvement in the productivity of crop and pasture plants. A great deal of the credit for these advances can be attributed to the efforts of the plant breeder, and this is particularly true in the cereals in which a succession of high yielding varieties appears on the market year by year. It falls to the agriculturalist to play his part by providing suitable environmental conditions in the field in order to achieve maximum expression of genetic characteristics. Further progress does, however, depend on one other essential service, and that is the physiological study of the plant in its natural environment. It is only through this approach that two vital objectives can be attained: first, more detailed information on the performance and reaction of the plant, on which any logical exploitation of the plant in the field should be based, and second, a more precise knowledge of those factors which influence yield so that the breeder's choice of desirable characteristics can be guided effectively.