Harnessing exotic germplasm for red clover improvement: Tracking genomic introgression and deploying genomic selection
A D Heslop, S K Arojju, R W Hofmann, J L Ford, C A Hefer, M Z Z Jahufer, A C Larking, W Hong, T P Bilton, R Ashby, J O'Connor, A G Griffiths · 2026
Read Harnessing exotic germplasm for red clover improvement: Tracking genomic introgression and deploying genomic selection by A D Heslop, S K Arojju, R W Hofmann, J L Ford, C A Hefer, M Z Z Jahufer, A C Larking, W Hong, T P Bilton, R Ashby, J O'Connor, A G Griffiths (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13492578.txt.
Description
Heslop and co-authors show how plant breeders can tap wild gene bank stock to harden red clover against a changing climate. Red clover is a pasture legume that pulls nitrogen from the air with help from soil bacteria. Local varieties lack traits needed as drought and heat grow.
The team crossed exotic stock into local varieties and tracked the inherited DNA with gene sequencing. Field trials across sites and years tested the second generation against standard varieties. Several new lines matched or beat the standards, and most traits passed to offspring at solid rates. The search found seventy-seven DNA markers tied to climate conditions, with a subset linked to plant traits. Prediction models trained on the stock forecast growth and density well in the derived lines. The authors offer this as a working route from gene bank shelves to climate-ready pasture seed.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | A D Heslop, S K Arojju, R W Hofmann, J L Ford, C A Hefer, M Z Z Jahufer, A C Larking, W Hong, T P Bilton, R Ashby, J O'Connor, A G Griffiths |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 71 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |