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Phenotype Selection in Crested Wheatgrass¹

Open-pollination progenies were used to study the effectiveness of phenotypic selection for seed characteristics in crested wheatgrass of Agropyron desertorum (Fisch. ex Link) Schult. maternal parentage. Source material consisted of 468 plants set out on 0.9-m centers. The plants were assessed for spike number and seed yield, set, and size over a 2-yr period (1959 and 1960). Progenies of the plants averaging in the top 10% of each of the four characters (125 "high" selections) and in the bottom 5% in spike number and seed size (19 "low" selections) were grown in rows seeded 0.9 m apart. Of the high selections 94, 26, and 5 were 1-, 2-, and 3-character combinations, respectively.

Seed yield of the progenies, averaged over a 3-yr period (1962 to 1964), ranged from 147 to 687 kg/ha and seed size from 231 to 318 mg/100 seeds. Approximately 8% of the progenies significantly exceeded (P<.01) the crested wheatgrass variety ‘Nordan’ in both seed yield and size. Despite significant (P<.001) parent-progeny correlations of .517 for seed yield and .797 for seed size, single-character selection among spaced plants did not positively identify the most desirable genotypes for either yield or size of seed. Progeny seed yield averaged 416, 472, and 526 kg/ha and seed size 280, 275, and 290 mg/100 seeds for the 1-, 2-, and 3-character combinations, respectively. Spaced-plant selection for high spike number decreased progeny seed size and for low spike number increased progeny seed size. There were indications that multiple-character selection of plants not in the top 10% would also have given high-performing progenies. For screening source populations of crested wheatgrass for seed characteristics, large-scale testing of open-pollination progenies is suggested to reduce loss of valuable genotypes.

Key Words: cross-pollinated plants • intercharacter correlations • perennial grass • seed number/Spike • seed weight

² Research Agronomist, Crops Research Division, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Northern Great Plains Research Center, Mandan, N.D. 58554.

Received for publication December 1, 1967.