Skip to main content
ARS Home » Plains Area » El Reno, Oklahoma » Oklahoma and Central Plains Agricultural Research Center » Livestock, Forage and Pasture Management Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #371346
Research Project: Integrated Agroecosystem Research to Enhance Forage and Food Production in the Southern Great Plains

Location: Livestock, Forage and Pasture Management Research Unit

Title: A dihaploid approach for the selection of forage quality in tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb)

Author
item Kindiger, Bryan
item MOYER, JOSEPH - Kansas State University

Submitted to: Journal of Plant Breeding and Genetics
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/20/2019
Publication Date: 5/2/2020
Citation: Kindiger, B.K., Moyer, J. 2020. A dihaploid approach for the selection of forage quality in tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb). Journal of Plant Breeding and Genetics. 7(3):125-133. https://doi.org/10.33687/pbg.007.03.3013
DOI: https://doi.org/10.33687/pbg.007.03.3013

Interpretive Summary: Superior grass forages must have competitive, if not superior nutritional qualities in order to provide for the needs of grazing livestock. A single pollen grain selection approach was applied to 25 ryegrass-tall fescue F1 hybrids and their dihaploid tall fescue offspring for the study. Forage quality levels regarding crude protein, acid digestible fiber, neutral digestible fiber and in vitro dry matter digestibility were performed on the F1 and the tall fescue offspring to determine the effectiveness of the approach and the heritability of the forage quality trait. Results of the study indicate this selection approach is efficient and can reduce breeding time for the selection of tall fescue possessing superior nutritional quality. This approach is specific to tall fescue, but may have application to other species represented in the Lolium/Festuca genus.

Technical Abstract: Within the Festuca-Lolium genome complex there is a need for modern breeding approaches that can facilitate the rapid development of improved germplasm or cultivars. Traditional recurrent or mass-selection methods for population or synthetic development are labor intensive and time consuming. The recent development of annual ryegrass Lolium multiflorum Lam. subsp. multiflorum lines, that when hybridized by tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb. (syn. = Lolium arundinaceum (Schreb.) Darbysh.)), generate F1 hybrids capable of exhibiting genome loss of either the ryegrass or tall fescue genome. This results in the recovery of both ryegrass and tall fescue dihaploid (DH) lines. Forage quality evaluation on 25 F1 hybrids and their 25 dihaploid recoveries suggested gamete selection performed on the F1 was effective for forage quality selection and may have application toward the selection of additional quantitative forage quality or agronomic attributes in tall fescue. The described gamete-selection strategy is applicable to tall fescue (L. arundinaceum) and may have applications across the Lolium/Festuca genus.