CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

The slow initial growth of Lotus tenuis limits its use to improve the Flooding Pampas grasslands by means of its inter-sowing. The research of the inter e intra-population variability of the seedlings vigor under changing condition of the environment and the population x environment interaction contributes to design sowing strategies and selection criterion. The objective was to evaluate de inter e intra-population phenotypic variability, under different plant densities and planting dates in the number of stems in the crown (Nt) and the shoot dry weight (PSa) of the L tenuis seedlings. Nt y PSa were determined in 5 populations in a complete randomized design with 3 repetitions (pots), in 2 sowing times (winter and spring) and with 2 densities (25 y 50 seedlings/pot). Multifactor ANVA, Tukey test and linear regression analysis were applied. The intra-population variability was analyzed for the spring sowing at the highest seeding, by means of the average, minimum, maximum and coefficient of variation. Population effect and population x environments interaction were found in both characters in winter, whereas only density effect was found in spring. From the set analyses, the population and density effect in both characters are distinguished. The intra-population variability was wide for PSa and narrow for Nt. The linear regression analyses shows that the variation of PSa is widely explained by the Nt (R2= 62.30%).