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Screening Alfalfa Germplasm for Seedling Drought Resistance¹

Seeds from open pollination of 1,077 alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) introductions were tested for the ability of their seedlings to emerge at –6.5 bars of soil water potential in a laboratory environment. Emergent seedlings were then subjected to severe drought stress in a growth chamber as the second part of a two-stage screening procedure. Morphological data were available from a nursery in Ames, Iowa, where the seeds were produced. Field emergence and seedling survival were measured at Nephi, Utah, during a summer with marked moisture stress for young plants. Medicago sativa L. subsp. sativa seedlings were better able to emerge and survive in the field than were those of other subspecies. Morphological data from Ames were of greater value in predicting field stand and survival than were results on laboratory emergence and growth chamber survival.

Key Words: Alfalfa • Polyethylene glycol • Medicago falcata • Plant introduction • soil water potential

² Research geneticist and plant physiologist, respectively, USDA-SEA-AR, Crops Research Laboratory, Utah State Univ. UMC 63, Logan, UT 84322.

Received for publication June 9, 1980.