HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Young, B. A. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Young, B. A. Agricola Articles by Young, B. A.

Heritability of Resistance to Seed Shattering in Kleingrass

USDA-ARS, Grassland, Soil and Water Res. Lab., Temple, TX 76502

^* Corresponding author.

Seed shattering and nonuniformity of seed ripening in kleingrass, Panicum coloratum (L.), reduce the quantity of harvestable seed and contribute to diminished seed quality. In this study two populations were derived from an accession of kleingrass (PI 410177) that has superior seed retention. The objective was to determine the heritability of seed retention and the feasibility of developing improved germplasm from these populations. Variation for seed retention (SR) was demonstrated in these populations using a laboratory procedure for measuring SR. Calms were excised from field-grown plants after pollination, placed in water, and brought to a greenhouse to allow the seed to mature. After 35 d the intlorescences were uniformly agitated and the degree of SR determined. The heritability of SR was measured using parent-offspring regression. Narrow-sense heritabilities were similar and low in both populations (0.38 and 0.40), and genotype x environment interactions were a large component of the total variation. This suggests that improvement of seed shattering resistance will be slow and will require replicated testing in multiple environments per cycle of recurrent selection.

Received for publication September 4, 1990.