| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
|
|
|
|||||||
|
|||||||||
a Dep. of Agronomy, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706
b Spring Green, WI 53588
c Pure Seed Testing, Hubbard, OR 97032
d AgResearch Int., Madison, WI 53719
* Corresponding author (mdcasler{at}facstaff.wisc.edu)
‘Spring Green’ festulolium [x Festulolium loliaceum (Huds.) P. Fourn.] (Reg. no. CV-209, PI 614811) was developed from a collaboration between the University of Wisconsin, Pure Seed Testing, Inc., AgResearch Intl., Inc., and Peter G. Pitts, a farmer and entrepreneur near Spring Green, WI. Spring Green was released by the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station in January 1997. It was tested under the experimental designation PST-WFL96.
Spring Green is a strain cross between two independent and unrelated festulolium populations: WFLr and W4KG. WFLr was developed by two cycles of phenotypic selection. In the first cycle, replicated plots of ‘Elmet’, ‘Prior’, and ‘Tandem’ festulolium were planted near Arlington, Ashland, Marshfield, Prairie du Sac, and Spooner, WI. Plots were planted in April 1986, overseeded with alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), and harvested three or four times per year in 1987 and 1988. Following the third winter, the most vigorous surviving plants (89 from Elmet, 74 from Prior, and 81 from Tandem) were transplanted to a common crossing block, covered with hay during the winter of 1989–1990, and allowed to produce seed in 1990. The overall selection intensity was 1.3% (Casler and Walgenbach, 1990). Seed was harvested from each plant, threshed, cleaned, and bulked in equal quantities to create the WFL-a89C population. In the second cycle of selection, approximately 4000 plants of this population were transplanted near Hubbard, OR, in 1991. These plants were evaluated for stem rust (caused by Puccinia graminis Pers.:Pers.) resistance in June 1992, and 100 of the most resistant plants were intercrossed to form the WFLr population.
W4KG was developed by one cycle of phenotypic selection within ‘Kemal’ festulolium. Kemal was seeded to a 2 ha pasture near Spring Green, WI, in 1985. The pasture was set stocked for 5 yr with an average of two cows (Bos taurus) plus calves ha-1. In 1991, 80 plants were selected from heavily grazed portions of the pasture. Selection intensity was approximately 0.0004%. These plants were transplanted near Hubbard, OR, in August 1991. In 1992, five clones were selected for resistance to stem rust and intercrossed to form the W4KG population.
Finally, 500 plants each of WFLr and W4KG were transplanted into alternate rows of a crossing block near Hubbard, OR, in 1995. Seed was harvested from all plants in 1996 and bulked in equal quantities to create breeder seed of Spring Green festulolium. The pedigree of Spring Green is 18% Elmet, 15% Prior, 17% Tandem, and 50% Kemal. Elmet, Kemal, and Tandem were derived from crosses between meadow fescue (Festuca pratensis Huds.) and Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.). Prior was derived from a cross between meadow fescue and perennial ryegrass (L. perenne L.).
Between June and November 1995, WFLr, W4KG, and each of their parent cultivars were tested for freezing tolerance in a growth chamber at the University of Wisconsin (Casler et al., 1997). Both WFLr and W4KG were superior in freezing tolerance to their respective parents, averaging a 10-fold increase in plant survival and a 40% increase in tiller survival of surviving plants following 3 d at -11°C.
Spring Green was tested against two of its parents (Kemal and Tandem) at 14 field sites, seeded in spring 1997. Seeds of Elmet and Prior were unavailable in 1997 because their commercial production had been discontinued. Sites were located in Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Across all sites, Spring Green averaged 5% higher forage yield than Kemal, and was similar to Tandem (M.D. Casler, P.G. Peterson, L.D. Hoffman, E.C. Brummer, J.L. Hansen, M.J. Mlynarek, M.R. Sulc, J.C. Henning, N.J. Ehlke, and D.J. Undersander, 2000, unpublished data). Spring Green averaged 16% more ground cover than Tandem, but was similar in ground cover to Kemal after two or three winters averaged across the 10 locations with measurable winter injury. Spring Green averaged 57% more ground cover than Kemal at the four locations with the lowest mean ground cover following two or three winters (29%).
The increased freezing tolerance of Spring Green's parents appears to have increased its range of adaptation in the northcentral and northeastern USA. Spring Green is intended for use in rotational or set-stocked pastures throughout the northcentral and northeastern USA and parts of southeastern Canada. It is best adapted to locations with mild winters or where snow cover is reliable, promoting longer stand life. It can be frost-seeded into existing permanent pasture to improve thinning stands.
Breeder seed of Spring Green will be maintained by Pure Seed Testing, Inc. of Hubbard, OR. Pure Seed Testing, Inc. has exclusive rights to produce Foundation and Certified Seed and to market Certified Seed of Spring Green. Seed multiplication will be limited to Foundation and Certified Classes, which will be one and two generations advanced from Breeder Seed, respectively. Spring Green was approved by the National Grass Variety Review Board (NGVRB) on 26 June 2000.
NOTES
The development of Spring Green festulolium was partially funded by USDA-SBIR Phase-1 Research Project #95-00067. Registration by CSSA.
Accepted for publication January 31, 2001.
REFERENCES
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  R. M. Dierking, R. L. Kallenbach, M. S. Kerley, C. A. Roberts, and T. R. Lock Yield and Nutritive Value of 'Spring Green' Festulolium and 'Jesup' Endophyte-Free Tall Fescue Stockpiled for Winter Pasture Crop Sci., November 24, 2008; 48(6): 2463 - 2469. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
M. D. Casler, P. R. Peterson, L. D. Hoffman, N. J. Ehlke, E. C. Brummer, J. L. Hansen, M. J. Mlynarek, M. R. Sulc, J. C. Henning, D. J. Undersander, et al. Natural Selection for Survival Improves Freezing Tolerance, Forage Yield, and Persistence of Festulolium Crop Sci., September 1, 2002; 42(5): 1421 - 1426. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| The SCI Journals | Agronomy Journal | Vadose Zone Journal | |||
| Journal of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Education |
Soil Science Society of America Journal | ||||
| Journal of Plant Registrations | Journal of Environmental Quality |
The Plant Genome | |||
