Selection for Seed Yield Production of Egyptian Clover (<em>Trifolium alexandrinum</em> L.) C. V. Fahl.

Modified mass and family selection for selection yield production of berseem clover (Trifolium alexandrinum L. ) c. v. &#39;Fahl&#39; were applied for two generations. Two hundred plants (5% intensity of selection) were selected for seed yield in the first season, 1985/86. In the second season, 1986/87, selection between and within half-sib families was practiced. In addition, equal parts of seeds from each of the 200 selected plants were bulked to form the C1 modified mass selection; alter establishing, the same procedure was adopted to form the C2 generation. The cycles 1 and 2 of half-sib families and modified mass selection along with the base population family were evaluated for forage and seed yields. The realized gains from modified mass selection were 6.03 and 9.51 % for fresh forage yield, 5.57 and 10.86 % for protein yield and 13.23 and 16.19 % for seed yield in cycles 1 and 2, respectively, over the base population. The realized gain from family selection in cycle 2 as a percentage of the base population mean amounted to 11.32, 13.35, 17.47 and 3.15 % for forage, protein, and seed yield and seed index, respectively. The broad sense heritability, as estimated from the variance components was 89.63, 63.03, and 76.67 to for dry forage, seed yield and seed index, respectively. Although, all these live traits (fresh, dry, protein, and seed yield and seed index) had positive correlation with each other, weak correlations were found between seed yield and forage yields. Furthermore, close associations were found among forage yield traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]