• Media type: E-Article
  • Title: Comparing mating designs to restore seed production of interspecific hybrids betweenTrifolium repens(white clover) andTrifolium uniflorum
  • Contributor: Naeem, Muhammad; Verry, Isabelle Marjorie; Kemp, Peter D.; Millner, James P.; Williams, Warren Mervyn
  • Published: Wiley, 2017
  • Published in: Plant Breeding, 136 (2017) 3, Seite 420-426
  • Language: English
  • DOI: 10.1111/pbr.12481
  • ISSN: 0179-9541; 1439-0523
  • Origination:
  • Footnote:
  • Description: AbstractInterspecific hybrids betweenTrifolium uniflorumand cultivated white clover (Trifolium repens) have highly useful characteristics for temperate pastoral systems derived from both parent species. However, the early hybrids (F1and BC1) also have unacceptably poor seed production for commerce. This study analysed the basis for the poor seed production and investigated breeding strategies for overcoming the problem. The BC1F1generation produced lower‐than‐expected numbers of heads per plant and seeds per floret. Backcrossing of selected hybrids to white clover corrected these deficiencies and created new variation. Seed numbers were also returned to near target levels by recurrent selection within the BC1generation. Thus, it was possible to retain a theoretical average of 25% ofT. uniflorumgenome and still achieve high seed production per plant. The BC1F2and BC2F1generations produced high seed numbers per plant, along with reasonable variation. Both of these second‐generation hybrid forms have high reproductive potential and should be the focus for the selection of the desired combinations of agronomic and seed production traits.