Crop Science Journal of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Education
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Published in Crop Sci 13:72-75 (1973)
© 1973 Crop Science Society of America
677 S. Segoe Rd., Madison, WI 53711 USA
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Alfalfa Seed Size as an Indicator of Hybridity1

M. W. Pedersen and D. K. Barnes2

The size of hybrid and selfed alfalfa (Medicago saliva L.) seed were studied with a view to utilizing size differences in breeding procedures. Pollen parents and seed parents both had a measurable effect on alfalfa seed size. On the average, selfed seeds on a given seed parent were about 10% smaller than F1 hybrid seed. Some pollen parents produced larger hybrid seeds than other pollen parents. Maternal parent x pollen parent interactions also influenced seed size. The reduction in selfed-seed size was attributed to inbreeding depression. The hybrid-seed size response was considered to be an expression of heterosis.

Seed size was used as a basis to separate hybrid seeds by sieving open-pollinated seed of white-flowered alfalfa grown in plots adjacent to colored-flowered alfalfa. A seedling hypocotyl-color test was used to identify hybrid seedlings. Seed size and percent crossing were closely correlated in a positive manner.

Applications of these results that deserve further study include: (i) the relationship between combining ability for seed size and combining ability for forage yield; (ii) sieving to improve quality of seed stocks; and (iii) increasing the proportion of hybrid seed in hybrid seed cultivars.

Key Words: Heterosis • Seed production • Pollination

1 Contribution from the Plant Science Research Division, Agricultural Research Service. USDA; the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station, Logan, Utah, Paper no. 1050; and the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station, St. Paul, Minn. Paper No. 7981, Scinetific Journal Series, Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station.

2 Research Agronomist and Research Geneticist, PSRD, ARS, USDA at Utah State University, Logan, Utah 84322 and University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minn. 55101, respectively.

Received for publication July 3, 1972.




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