Aarhus University Seal

PhD-defence: Is lack of pollination the main reason for the low seed yield in red clover?

Seed production of red clover largely depends on bumble bee’s pollination. However, pollination under field conditions is complex.

[Translate to English:] Foto: Shuxuan Jing

Shuxuan Jing used her PhD study to link elements of the pollination process in terms of pollen transfer success, bee abundance and visitation rate to the plant reproductive success, pollen viability, seed set and flowering phenology. Three pollination approaches were applied: hand pollination, honey bee and bumble bee pollination and the importance of multiple bee visits and diverse pollen transfer in order to maximise the reproductive success was apparent. She found that under similar pollination conditions, tetraploid types of red clover yielded only 50% of the seed yield of diploid types.

The research findings contribute to our understanding of the role of pollination in red clover reproductive success and provide new information in the research areas of pollination biology, crop pollination management and seed production.

The PhD study was completed at Department of Agroecology, Faculty of Technical Sciences, Aarhus University.

This summary was prepared by the PhD student.

Time: Friday, 28 May 2021 at 10:00
Place: The PhD defence will be held online. To receive a link to the event, please send an e-mail to Karina Rysholt Christensen; kch@agro.au.dk.
Title of PhD thesis: Evaluation of pollination and reproductive success in red clover (Trifolium pratense L.)

Contact information: Shuxuan Jing, e-mail: shuxuan.jing@agro.au.dk, tel.: +45 91881488

Members of the assessment committee:

Professor Isabel Roldán-Ruiz, Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, Belgium

Associate Professor Vibeke Langer, Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Senior Researcher Henrik Skovgård (chair), Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University, Denmark

Main supervisor:
Senior Researcher Birte Boelt, Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University, Denmark

Co-supervisor:
Senior Researcher Per Kryger, Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University, Denmark 

Language: The PhD dissertation will be defended in English

The defence is public.
Due to the coronavirus situation, the PhD thesis will not be available for reading at the offices of the PhD administration. Instead, interested parties may send an e-mail to gradschool.tech@au.dk to receive a digital copy of the PhD thesis. Please note, it may in certain cases be necessary to make an individual arrangement to read the PhD thesis.