Molecular marker diversity and yield of isogenic 2x and 4x single-crosses of alfalfa

• Published in: Crop science Vol. 34; no. 3
• Main Authors: Kidwell, K.K, Woodfield, D.R, Bingham, E.T, Osborn, T.C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.05.1994
• Subjects: ASCENDANCE; ASCENDENCIA; DIPLOIDIA; DIPLOIDIE; GENOTIPOS; GENOTYPE; HETEROCIGOTOS; HETEROZYGOTE; HIBRIDACION; HYBRIDATION; MARCADORES GENETICOS; MARQUEUR GENETIQUE; MEDICAGO SATIVA; POLIMORFISMO; POLYMORPHISME; PRODUCTOS DEL CRUZAMIENTO; PRODUIT DE CROISEMENT; RENDEMENT DES CULTURES; RENDIMIENTO DE CULTIVOS; TECHNIQUE DE PREVISION; TECNICAS DE PREDICCION; TETRAPLOIDIA; TETRAPLOIDIE; VARIACION GENETICA; VARIATION GENETIQUE
• ISSN: 0011-183X; 1435-0653
• DOI: 10.2135/cropsci1994.0011183X003400030032x

The positive correlation between level of heterozygosity and yield in autotetraploid alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) suggests that genetic diversity between parents may be related to yield of their hybrid progeny. This was tested by comparing the levels of polymorphism among parental genotypes for restriction fragments homologous to 61 recombinant DNA clones with the yield of their single-cross progenies. Diploid (2x) genotypes were chromosome doubled to produce autotetraploids (4x), and these isogenic 2x and 4x genotypes were used as parents to generate progenies in 4 x 4 diallels. Seeds from reciprocal crosses were bulked to produce six single-cross families for field evaluation at each ploidy level. Yield data of single-crosses were collected in spaced-plant and microplot field trials over two and three years, respectively. Genetic dissimilarities (GDs) were estimated for all pairs of the four parents by the complement of the Dice coefficient calculated from 244 restriction fragments. At the diploid level, no significant associations between GD and yield of single-cross progenies were detected; however, high correlations were detected for tetraploid progenies in microplots and spaced-plant field trials (r = 0.69, p 0.16 and r