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Sampling Techniques and Early Generation Testing for Alkaloid Selection in Tobacco¹

Selection of F2 flue-cured tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) plants on the basis of seedling analysis for total alkaloids was effective in separating F5 lines into groups with significantly different means. Green-leaf analyses of field-grown F6 plants were compared with those from cured leaves. The green-leaf samples were taken at three stages of maturity; 2 weeks before the plants flowered, when the plants were in full flower, and 2 weeks after they were topped. The total alkaloid analyses from all of the three samplings of the green leaves were highly correlated with those from the cured leaves. The highest correlation was obtained when the percent of total alkaloids were averaged from the three green-leaf samplings and compared with the weighted average of the cured leaves. High correlations were also obtained when alkaloid percentage from each of the three stalk positions of the cured leaves were compared with the weighted average of all the cured leaves from the plant. For cured-Ieaf alkaloid analyses, the highest correlation was obtained when the alkaloid percentages from the top stalk positions were compared with those from the weighted average of all stalk positions. Therefore, the total alkaloid percentages of the cured leaves from the top stalk positions should give reliable results for selecting lines with varying levels of total alkaloids.

Key Words: Nicotania tabacum • nicotine

² Principal Agronomist, Crops Research Division, Agricultural Research Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, Md. 20705. (Formerly of Pee Dee Experiment Station, Florence, S. C.)

Received for publication January 29, 1970.