Variation for winter hardiness generated by androgenesis from Festuca pratensis × Lolium multiflorum amphidiploid cultivars with different winter susceptibility

Abstract

Androgenic populations produced from three Festuca pratensis × Lolium multiflorum amphidiploid (2n = 4x = 28) cultivars show wide within population variation for winter hardiness. Populations comprising a total of 423 androgenic plants derived from 23 donor plants from 3 Polish F. pratensis × L. multiflorum cultivars Felopa, Sulino, and Rakopan were studied over 3 years (1999)(2000)(2001)(2002) in a field experiment at Lopuszna, Poland (20 • 08 E, 49 • 28 N, altitude 568 m). The results indicate that despite differences in winter hardiness between the three amphidiploid cultivars, the mean winter hardiness of androgenic progeny from each cultivar was the same. Thus an androgenesis component in a plant breeding programme may provide an opportunity to recover winter hardy genotypes from high yielding cultivars that are themselves adapted poorly to stress conditions. Androgenesis also evoked variation in snow mould resistance. In this case, androgenic plants with the greatest snow mould resistance were recovered from the least winter hardy donor cultivars and plants. The results indicated the low importance of snow mould resistance as a component of winter hardiness under the field conditions used for these experiments.

Androgenesis as a means of dissecting complex genetic and physiological controls: selecting useful gene combinations for breeding freezing tolerant grasses

“…F. pratensis is a known good source of genes for winter-hardiness (Humphreys et al 1997). However, it is remarkable in the androgenic lines that despite the reduced F. pratensis gene complement, and their combination with genes from the freezingsensitive L. multiflorum genome, that the resilience to extreme low temperatures in the field is retained and in many cases increased above that of the Festuca parent (Rapacz et al , 2005. The field studies revealed a strong negative correlation over 2 years (-0.71 and -0.67) between maximum quantum yield of PSII (F v /F m ) before winter and subsequent winter survival.…”

“…It was demonstrated conclusively that regenerant genotypes derived following androgenesis from Lolium · Festuca hybrids include gene combinations difficult to recover through conventional backcross breeding programmes (Humphreys et al 1998. Furthermore, many examples were demonstrated where androgenesis enhanced gene expression for complex traits such as drought resistance Zare et al 2002) or freezing-tolerance (Humphreys et al 2000;Zare et al 1999;Rapacz et al 2005), in excess of that found in the parent genotypes. In this way androgenesis was shown to be a technology capable of exploiting the genetic potential of a genotype, that otherwise in its unreduced disomic state, was under-expressed due to combinations of control by recessive alleles, or possible pleiotropic or epistatic interactions.…”

“…In this way androgenesis was shown to be a technology capable of exploiting the genetic potential of a genotype, that otherwise in its unreduced disomic state, was under-expressed due to combinations of control by recessive alleles, or possible pleiotropic or epistatic interactions. The value of androgenesis as a component of a grass breeding programme was illustrated further by Rapacz et al (2005). They demonstrated that approximately equal numbers of regenerant plants derived following androgenesis from Polish amphiploid cultivars of L. multiflorum F. pratensis were recovered with good resistance to freezing temperatures or snow mould attack irrespective of whether their parent cultivars or genotypes were susceptible or resistant to these abiotic and biotic stresses.…”

Genetics and molecular breeding in Lolium/Festuca grass species complex

“…2000). Recent research has demonstrated that genotypes with high winter hardiness or snow mould resistance were recovered at equal frequencies in androgenic populations derived from both resistant and susceptible parent genotypes and cultivars (Rapacz et al . 2005).…”

Systemic View on Heading and Overwintering: Are They Always Opposed?

“…Different cultivars of Festulolium braunii -perennial grass which non-obligatorily requires vernalization -were chosen as the subject of this study. It should be noted that F. braunii is a hybrid obtained from special intergeneric Festuca pratensis 9 Lolium multiflorum crosses, having achieved both the high level of winter-hardiness (from F. pratensis) and the good feeding value (from L. multiflorum) (Rapacz et al 2005, Kopeck y et al 2006, Opitz et al 2006.…”