Study of self incompatibility and pollination systems in cocksfoot, Dactylis glomerata L., under optimum and drought conditions

Document Type : Research Paper

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Abstract

Knowledge of the pollination system and the amount of self-Incompatibility is the first step for choosing appropriate breeding method. This study was conducted to investigate the amount of self- incompatibility and selfing in 25 genotypes of cocksfoot Dactylis glomerata, a perennial forage grass, under two moisture environments (non-stress and drought stress) based on a randomized complete block design. Half of the panicles of each genotype were bagged for obligate selfing and the rest were allowed to open pollinate. The results showed that under non stress conditions the average number of seeds per panicle for open pollination was 31.3 and for selfing was 4.2. Under drought stress conditions, these values were 21.16 and 2.0, respectively, indicating that the effect of relative environmental conditions (drought stress) on seed production in terms of both selfing and crossing. The same trend was also observed for seed weight. Under non-stress conditions variation among genotypes for seed weight per panicle was more than stress conditions. High variability was observed among the genotypes for self-compatibility index and for this regards the genotypes with the highest and lowest incompatibility rate were determined. The results also showed that the production of the inbred lines in cocksfoot is possible in order to develop new improved varities.

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