Italian ryegrass - higher seed yield through targeted selection for low seed shattering.
In: Exploiting genetic diversity of forages to fulfil their economic and environmental roles. Proceedings of the 34th Meeting of the EUCARPIA Fodder Crops and Amenity Grasses Section in cooperation with the EUCARPIA Festulolium Working Group. 06-08 September, Publ. Bavarian Stat Reserach Center For Agriculture (LfL), Palacky University Press, Olomouc. 2021, 117-120.
For a forage grass cultivar to be successful on the market, a high seed yield is a prerequisite. Therefore, the main goal of this project is to evaluate the feasibility of including seed yield as a selection criterion in Italian ryegrass breeding. A preliminary test with Agroscope germplasm showed that reduced seed yield was mainly caused by seed shattering, which is thought to be controlled by only a few genes. Currently, a field experiment is performed to examine the potential of reducing seed shattering by direct phenotypic selection on spaced plants. Starting from a common base population, plants are selected for high and low seed shattering. After one cycle of selection, a significant difference was observed between families selected for high or low seed shattering, respectively. Therefore, selection for reduced seed shattering seems to be very effective in Italian ryegrass. A second selection cycle be performed and families will be evaluated as spaced plants and in rows.
