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 HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Kidwell, K. K. Articles by Osborn, T. C. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Kidwell, K. K. Articles by Osborn, T. C. Agricola Articles by Kidwell, K. K. Articles by Osborn, T. C.

Forage Yields of Alfalfa Populations Derived from Parents selected on the Basis of Molecular Marker Diversity

Dep. of Crop and Soil Sciences, Washington State Univ., Pullman, WA 99164-6420
Dep. of Plant Biology, Univ. of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108
Dep. of Horticulture and Statistics, 1575 Linden Dr., Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706
Dep. of Computing and Biometry, 1675 Observatory Dr., Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706

J. E. Brummer and J. Moutray

ABI - Alfalfa, 2316 259th St., Ames, IA, 50014

T. C. Osborn^*

Dep. of Agronomy, 1575 Linden Dr., Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI53706

^* Corresponding author (tcosborn{at}facstaff.wisc.edu).

It is important to know if forage yields of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) cultivars could be improved by using a subset of genetically diverse parents selected from a larger population of parents for a synthetic cuitivar. We used restriction fragment length polymorphisms to assess the level of genetic diversity among 93 alfalfa genotypes previously selected as parents for a potential commercial synthetic cuitivar. On the basis of average pairwise genetic distances between genotypes, four synthetic populations (samples) were developed with 2, 4, 8, 12, 16, or 24 parents selected for genetic dissimilarity (DIS) or similarity (SIM). Resulting synthetic populations were evaluated for forage yield in replicated field trials at three locations for 2 yr. Forage yields of populations with low numbers of parents were highly variable among samples, and as number of parents increased, genetic diversity levels and yield variation decreased. No significant difference (P > 0.05) was detected between forage yields of DIS and SIM groups averaged over parent number and samples; however, yield variation among samples within parent number of DIS and SIM groups was highly significant (P < 0.0001). The SIM group had more sample variation than did the DIS group, and more SIM than DIS populations were among the lower yielding populations. The lack of significant differences between the forage yields of DIS and SIM populations may be due to linkage equilibrium in the population used for selecting parents and the inability to target heterozygosity to specific genome regions affecting yield.

Received for publication August 30, 1997.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. G. Robins, D. Luth, T. A. Campbell, G. R. Bauchan, C. He, D. R. Viands, J. L. Hansen, and E. C. Brummer Genetic Mapping of Biomass Production in Tetraploid Alfalfa Crop Sci., January 22, 2007; 47(1): 1 - 10. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. K. Sledge, J. H. Bouton, and G. Kochert Shifts in Pest Resistance, Fall Dormancy, and Yield in 12-, 24-, and 120-Parent Grazing Tolerant Synthetics Derived from CUF 101 Alfalfa Crop Sci., September 1, 2003; 43(5): 1736 - 1740. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]