Effects of heterosis for yield and yield components obtained by crossing divergent alfalfa populations

Abstract

When breeding alfalfa for yield performance, it is necessary to use high-yielding parents obtained by different breeding methods. The assumption at the onset of this research was that crossing highest-yielding domestic cultivars with divergent populations from geographically distant breeding centers could result in the expression of heterotic effects in their hybrids contributing to increased alfalfa yield. The objective of this study was to determine yield and yield components and heterotic effects in hybrid progenies obtained by crossing the domestic cultivars NS Banat ZMS II and NS Mediana ZMS V with the cultivars Pella, Dolichi and Hyliki from Greece, UMSS 2001 from Bolivia and Jogeva 118 from Estonia in two series. The field trial planted in 2006, included 13 F1 hybrids and 6 of 7 initial parents in both series. Heterotic effects for yields of forage and hay were observed in 4 combinations (C NS Banat ZMS II x E Hyliki; C NS Banat ZMS II x E UMSS 2001; C NS Mediana ZMS V x E Hyliki; C NS Mediana ZMS V x E Dolichi). The populations that exhibited heterosis in a set of crossings are recommended for use as parent components for development of high-yielding synthetic alfalfa cultivars.

Za oplemenjivanje lucerke na prinos neophodno je koristiti superiorne roditelje, odnosno visokoprinosne populacije dobijene različitim metodama oplemenjivanja. Pretpostavka je bila da bi se ukrštanjem domaćih najprinosnijih sorti sa divergentnim populacijama iz geografski udaljenih centara, moglo doprineti ispoljavanju efekata heterozisa kod njihovih hibrida i povećanju prinosa lucerke. Cilj rada je bilo utvrđivanje prinosa i komponenti prinosa i heterotičnih efekata na hibridnim potomstvima dobijenim ukrštanjem sorti NS Banat ZMS II i NS Mediana ZMS V sa grčkim sortama Pella, Dolichi i Hyliki, bolivijskom UMSS 2001 i estonskom sortom Jogeva 118, u dve serije. Poljski ogled je posejan 2006. a uključivao je 13 F1 hibrida i 6 ili 7 roditelja. Efekti heterozisa za prinos krme i sena ispoljeni su kod 4 kombinacije (C NS Banat ZMS II x Hyliki i C NS Banat ZMS II x E UMSS 2001, i C NS Mediana ZMS V x E Hyliki i C NS Mediana ZMS V x E Dolichi). Populacije koje su se u seriji ukrštanja ocenile i ispoljile heterozis trebalo bi koristiti kao roditeljske komponente u stvaranju sintetičkih visokoprinosnih sorti lucerke.