Morphologische und agronomische Merkmale autochthoner annueller Medicago-Arten in Marokko

Morphological and agronomic characteristics of autochthonous annual Medkago species in Morocco
Autochthonous annual Medicago species were collected on non-alkaline soils and evaluated as to their potential agricultural use. 411 Medicago ecotypes were found at 108 sites. With increasing rainfall and altitude of collecting sites, a decrease was recorded in the length of sprouts, in sward height, in leaf size, and in dry matter yield. High rainfall regions were found to select late flowering ecotypes. All Medicago ecotypes tested showed broad intraspecific variation in seed yield, leaf size and seed weight. Coumestrol content of leaves at flowering was generally low; on average 115 ppm of dry matter. No relationship was found between collection sites and coumestrol content. In a field trial comparing 112 ecotypes with nine introduced cultivars at two contrasting sites, thirty ecotypes proved to be better adapted to local conditions than the cultivars.     

Variation for dry matter yield,seed yield and other agronomic traits in Ladino white clover landraces and natural populations

Summary A set of Ladino white clover ecotypes including the last available landraces and some natural populations collected from old permanent meadows, together with some white clover varieties of various origins, were evaluated as monocultures for dry matter (DM) and seed yield assessed in separate field experiments. Other agronomic traits were also recorded. The best performing variety, Espanso, was significantly outyielded by some ecotypes for DM and seed production. Compared to landraces, natural populations yielded on average far less seed but as much DM and tended towards higher persistence indicating that domestication of the native Ladino at the farm level only improved seed yield of the crop. Natural populations showed, besides lower values of most seed yield components, a distinct canopy architecture characterized by smaller leaves, longer internodes and denser stolons. Seed weight proved the best character discriminating between the two ecotype groups. Significant variation for most traits was found both among landraces, in which it was mostly relatable to differences among provenances, and among natural populations. The relations between the main multivariate patterns of phenotypic variation and a set of environment collecting variables suggested that evolutive adaptation to different agronomic practices was a major determinant of the overall variation found in landraces. Evidence is provided that a relevant part of the variation observed among ecotypes for some important traits could be genetic.Abbreviations DM dry matter - DMY dry matter yield - NRH number of ripe heads - NFH number of florets per head - PL petiole length - LS leaf size - IL internode length - NS number of stolons - PRO protein content - SY seed yield - TSW thousand seed weight - NSF number of seeds per floret - PCA principal components analysis - PC principal component     

NaCl胁迫对紫薇种子萌发的影响

采用培养皿发芽法研究不同浓度NaCl胁迫对紫薇种子萌发的影响。结果表明:随着浓度升高,紫薇种子发芽率、发芽指数、简化活力指数、株高、根长、根/冠、子叶面积、子叶叶绿素含量下降;种子细胞膜透性增加;子叶POD活性表现为先升高后下降的单峰曲线。去除胁迫后,只有0.1%NaCl胁迫的幼苗能继续生长,其它幼苗停止生长或种子不能萌发。     

Geographical patterns of morphological variation in sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) germplasm from Ethiopia and Eritrea: Quantitative characters

A total of 415 sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) accessions representing different regions of Ethiopia, Eritrea and a group of introduced lines were evaluated for 15 quantitative characters to determine the extent and geographical pattern of morphological variation. The extent of variation was highly pronounced for agronomically important characters for sorghum. These characters included plant height, days for 50% flowering, peduncle exsertion, panicle length and width, number and length of primary branches per panicle and thousand seed weight. Significant regional variation was also observed for most of the characters. The results implied that environmental factors such as altitude, rainfall, temperature and growing period are important in regional variation. Mean for plant height and for days for 50% flowering showed clinal variation along the gradients of rainfall pattern and growing period in Ethiopia. Moreover, there were significant positive correlation coefficients between most of the characters. This included the correlation between agronomic characters of primary interest in sorghum breeding such as plant height and days for 50% flowering and also between various characters and the altitude of the collection sites. The implications of the results in plant breeding, germplasm collection and conservation as well as the probable sources of the wide range of variation are discussed. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Selection for Non-Shattering Common Vetch, Vicia sativa L.

Loss of seeds from mature pods is common in Vicia sativa L., an important annual, resown forage legume in West Asia and North Africa. Pod shattering restricts its use as a leguminous forage crop. This paper reports the results of germplasm evaluation for non-shattering pods and of breeding and selection to improve seed retention. Wide variation in pod-shattering exists between common vetch ecotypes collected from different regions. Three wild mutants with almost completely non-shattering pods were identified and isolated for use as a genetic resource in cross breeding programmes. Genetic studies revealed that the non-shattering character in the wild types of common vetch is due to a simple recessive gene, whereas shattering in the cultivated types is due to an allelic dominant pair of genes. Incorporation of the non-shattering gene into agronomically-promising lines was achieved by back-crossing. Lines having an average of 95—97 % non-shattering pods were obtained, as compared to 40—50 % in the original cultivated lines which represents a major agronomic advance in common vetch breeding. The importance of seed retention to the economics of seed production is discussed.     

Phenotypic variation within a Hungarian landrace of runner bean (Phaseolus coccineus L.)

Summary A landrace seed lot of runner bean (Phaseolus coccineus L.), obtained from the Budapest region, Hungary, was separated into five seed groups according to seed coat colour. 131 plants were grown randomly, and observed for 27 morphological and physiological characters. The collected data were analysed by ANOVA.Numerical taxonomy of the data employed Principal Components Analysis to generate scatter diagrams and Cluster Analysis to generate dendrograms, both before and after removing data on the four anthocyanin colour characters (seed coat, calyx, stem and flower colour) as these characters are probably controlled by a single major gene. The progenies from the five distinct parental seed groups showed much overlap in characteristics, indicating that they were not distinct lines but comprised a largely panmictic population.Some character associations were detected: plants from white seeds matured significantly later than those from black seeds, plants from white seeds with a few dark spots produced seeds significantly heavier than average, whereas those from white or black seeds produced significantly lighter seeds, although the average seed yield per plant did not differ significatly.     

钠盐胁迫对甜高粱种子萌发及幼苗生长的探究

为探讨甜高粱种子在不同钠盐胁迫下的萌发特性,本研究以‘辽甜1号’甜高粱种子为材料,采用不同浓度钠盐(NaCl,Na HCO3,Na2SO4及其复合钠盐)溶液进行处理,分析比较甜高粱种子萌发阶段对不同钠盐胁迫的响应特性。结果表明,随着盐浓度的增加,总体上甜高粱种子的发芽率、发芽势、发芽指数、活力指数等萌发指标呈现逐渐降低趋势,不同浓度的钠盐胁迫均显著抑制甜高粱种子的干物质转移和早期幼苗的生长(p<0.05),对幼根的抑制高于幼芽。主成分分析(PCA)结果表明,PC1主要包含芽干重、根干重、根长、活力指数,代表"生长综合因子"(85.87%),PC2主要包含发芽率、发芽势、发芽速度,代表"速率综合因子"(8.36%)。二者共同解释12个萌发指标的94.23%的信息。运用隶属函数法评价不同浓度钠盐胁迫下甜高粱种子的毒害作用,在Na+浓度相同的条件下,不同组成钠盐对甜高粱种子萌发的抑制程度高低为NaHCO3>复合钠盐>NaCl>Na2SO4。     

Cold Stress Injury during the Pod-Filling Phase in Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.): Effects on Quantitative and Qualitative Components of Seeds

Chilling stress (<10 °C) is detrimental for chickpea, especially at the reproductive phase and leads to abortion of flowers, pods and impaired seed filling, causing severe reduction in yield. The information on the effects of low temperature during different pod-filling stages on quality and quantity of developing seeds is lacking in chickpea and hence this study. In this study, chickpea plants growing under warm conditions of the glasshouse were subjected to cold conditions of the field at the two stages, (a) early pod-filling and (b) late pod-filling, and subsequently analysed for stress injury in terms of electrolyte leakage (EL), 2,3,5-triphenyl tetrazolium chloride reduction, relative leaf water content and total chlorophyll content in the leaves of control and cold-stressed plants. Cold stress caused elevation of EL but reduced all the other parameters. Sucrose content decreased significantly in the leaves of cold-stressed plants. The differences between the effects of stress at two stages on the total plant dry weight were small and insignificant. The seed growth rate, seed fill duration, seed number, and average seed weight and size decreased greatly in the plants cold-stressed at the late pod-filling stage than those stressed at the early pod-filling stage. Greater reduction was observed in starch, proteins, soluble sugars, fat, crude fibre and storage protein fractions in the seeds of the plants cold-stressed at the late pod-filling stage. This coincided with a larger decrease in sucrose content, the activities of sucrose synthase, invertase and starch synthase observed at this stage. The germination and growth potential were, however, inhibited to a greater extent in seeds of plants stressed at the early pod-filling stage.     

Overcoming interspecific barriers in Sorghum and molecular characterization of the derivatives

Crop improvement in sorghum has progressed extensively availing the variation available in the primary gene pool of S. bicolor. Crossing further, the yield plateau can be accomplished by bringing in the genes from tertiary gene pool into the cultivated gene pool. Earlier efforts for wide hybridization in sorghum with tertiary gene pool were not successful due to inhibition of wild pollen germination on the stigma of cultivated species. In the current study, elite lines of cultivated Sorghum species were pollinated with wild species using different floral treatments. The results showed that spray with the synthetic auxin, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, has promoted the seed set. Overall, 76% crosses showed seed set, but many seeds were underdeveloped and deformed. F₁ progeny showed traits of both cultivated and wild parents. Hybrids were confirmed through PCR analysis. Many (80%) F₁ plants were sterile, and 20% of F₁s were advanced to F₂ generation. Wide variation was observed in F₂ progeny, and the phenotype selections were made and are being evaluated in the field.     

A sampling technique for assessing digestibility of Italian ryegrass populations

Summary A sampling technique is proposed for rapid digestibility screening of herbage grass ecotypes. Its application in the characterisation of genetic resources is discussed. The technique aims to standardize maturity and circumvent the problems of variation in stem:leaf ratio and the use of single plants versus swards.A experiment comparing the method with a standard technique using eleven ecotypes plus two controls of Lolium multiflorum is described.     

可溶性寡糖和小分子的热激蛋白与杂交水稻种子成熟过程中发芽能力及种子活力相关

系统研究了不同成熟期Y两优689杂交水稻种子的活力、可溶性寡糖含量和小分子热激蛋白表达量的变化。运用模糊隶属函数法综合分析种子的发芽率、发芽势、发芽指数、活力指数、平均发芽时间、根数、根长、苗高、苗重发现,授粉后19~34d的种子生活力与活力均较高。种子成熟过程中含水量呈下降趋势,授粉后10~22 d,种子含水量从48.2%下降至23.9%;鲜种子棉子糖与果糖含量分别呈上升和下降趋势;水苏糖和葡萄糖呈先上升后下降趋势。授粉后10~19 d,小分子热激蛋白64SHsp18.0和Os03g0267200基因的表达量均呈上升趋势,此后相对表达量下降。水分、棉子糖、水苏糖和蔗糖等物质含量,鲜种子及干种子的千粒重,以及64SHsp18.0和Os03g0267200基因的相对表达量均与种子发芽密切相关。     

Maternal and embryonal control of seed colour by different Brassica alboglabra chromosomes

Most oilseed rape, Brassica napus, cultivars are black‐seeded. The progenitor species, Brassica rapa, has either yellow or black seeds, while known cultivars of the other progenitor species Brassica oleracea/alboglabra have black seeds. To determine which chromosomes of B. alboglabra are carriers of seed colour genes, B. rapaalboglabra monosomic addition lines were produced from a B. napus resynthesized from yellow‐seeded B. rapa and brown/black‐seeded B. alboglabra. Eight out of nine possible lines have been developed and transmission frequencies of the alien chromosomes were estimated. Three B. alboglabra chromosomes in three of these lines influenced seed colour. B. rapa plants carrying alien chromosome 1 exhibited a maternal control of seed colour and produced only brown seeds, which gave rise to plants with either yellow or brown seeds. However, B. rapa plants carrying alien chromosome 4 or another as yet unidentified alien chromosome exhibited an embryonal control of seed colour and produced a mixture of yellow and brown seeds. The yellow seeds gave rise to yellow‐seeded plants, while the brown seeds gave rise to plants that yielded a mixture of yellow and brown seeds, depending on the absence or presence, respectively, of the B. alboglabra chromosome. Consequently, both maternal and embryonal control of seed colour are expected to contribute to the black‐seeded phenotype of oilseed rape.     

Allelic variation in linolenic acid content of high erucic acid Ethiopian mustard and incorporation of the low linolenic acid trait into zero erucic acid germplasm

Zero erucic acid germplasm of Ethiopian mustard is characterized by high levels of linolenic acid (about 21%). Two genetic sources of low linolenic acid (N2‐4961 and HF‐186, about 5%), have been developed in a high erucic acid background. The objectives of this research were to study the genetic relationship between the two low linolenic acid lines and to transfer the trait to zero erucic acid germplasm. F1 seed generations from crosses between both lines had higher average linolenic acid concentration than both parents. F2 seeds segregated for linolenic acid content following a continuous variation from 1.8 to 7.4%, exceeding the limits of the parental distribution ranges. Transgressive recombinants with very low linolenic acid concentration (0.7‐2.7%) were confirmed in the F3 seed generation. The results suggested that N2‐4961 and HF‐186 possess alleles for low linolenic acid at different loci. Transgressive low linolenic acid F3 plants were crossed with plants of a zero erucic acid line and a selection for zero erucic, low linolenic acid was conducted. As a result, a zero erucic acid F3:4 line containing 1.5 ± 0.7% linolenic acid was developed.     

高粱种子对萌发温度的响应分析与耐低温萌发能力鉴定

萌发期的低温是限制种子萌发的一个重要非生物胁迫因子,高粱种子耐低温萌发能力是保证高粱出苗整齐、建立良好群体的基础,因此研究高粱品种对不同萌发温度的响应特征具有重要的理论和应用价值。本试验用来源于不同地区的30份高粱品种,在25℃、20℃、16℃和12℃人工气候箱中进行萌发试验,测定不同温度下高粱品种的发芽势、发芽率、芽长、根长、芽重、根重等萌发指标,分析不同高粱品种的萌发差异;通过主成分分析和聚类分析,对不同高粱品种萌发期耐低温特性鉴定和分类,结果表明,随着萌发温度的降低,高粱芽和根的生长均受到抑制,但根与芽的重量和长度比均增加,说明萌发过程中芽比根对低温更加敏感。30个高粱品种的6个萌发指标相对值之间存在一定相关性。主成分分析表明,相对芽长、相对根长和相对发芽率分别在3个主成分中载荷较大,可作为高粱萌发期耐低温的主要鉴定指标。30个高粱品种按萌发期耐低温能力可分为四大类,辽粘3号极不耐低温,济粱1号等18个品种对低温敏感,冀酿1号等5个品种对低温不敏感,赤杂101等6个品种对萌发期低温具有较强的耐性。     

Salt-tolerance in Brassica juncea L. I. In vitro selection,agronomic evaluation and genetic stability

Summary In vitro selection of salt tolerant plants of Brassica juncea L. (Indian mustard) cv. Prakash has been accomplished by screening highly morphogenic cotyledon explant cultures on high NaCl media. Out of a total of 2,620 cotyledons cultured on high salt medium, 3 survived, showed sustained growth and regenerated shoots. They were multiplied by axillary bud culture on NaCl free medium. The salt-selected shoots retained salt tolerance following 3 month of growth and multiplication on control medium. While two of these somaclones flowered and set seeds, third one grew slowly, had abnormal leaf morphology and was sterile. The seed of the two fertile plants were sown in the field to raise R₁ segregating generation. Data were recorded for field, other agronomic components and oil content. The somaclonal lines, both selected salt-tolerant and non-selected, showed tremendous amount of variation for all the characters studied. One of the two tolerant somaclones invariably showed reduced height, longer reproductive phase and higher 1000 seed weight. Based on the agronomic performance of R₁ plants of these somaclones, some plants were selected and their progeny were evaluated for agronomic performance under standard field conditions and salt-tolerance in the greenhouse using sand pot culture method. Most of the lines bred true for their specific characteristics. In the greenhouse, selected salt-tolerant somaclones (SR-2 and SR-3) performed better for plant growth, yield and other agronomic traits at higher salt treatments, indicating thereby that salt-tolerance trait selected in vitro was expressed in the whole plants and is genetically stable and transmitted onto the progeny. The two tolerant lines, however, differed in their salt-tolerance during vegetative and reproductive phases as indicated by their salt-tolerance and stress susceptibility indices. The mechanism of salt-tolerance is not clear and needs to be further investigated.     

水稻种子H_2O_2流速和种子活力的关系研究

研究了水稻种子H_2O_2流速与种子活力的关系,为快速无损伤鉴别水稻种子活力方法提供依据。以粳稻日本晴、籼稻金农丝苗为材料,采用高温高湿人工老化方法处理种子0,7,10 d获取不同活力水平种子,测量3种类型种子的发芽率、根长、芽长、电导率、H_2O_2含量、CAT活性等性状,并利用非损伤微测系统(NMT)测量种子的H_2O_2流速。结果表明,老化处理造成水稻种子发芽率、根长、芽长和CAT活性降低,而电导率、H_2O_2含量及外排流速增加;老化处理10 d,老化程度加重,趋势更明显。H_2O_2流速与种子发芽率表现极显著负相关的线性关系。种子的H_2O_2流速大小及方向反映了种子内部的氧化还原平衡和细胞膜的状态,通过非损伤微测技术测定H_2O_2流速可以作为水稻种子活力判断的一种方法。     

Nondestructive assessment of protein content in single seeds of rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) by near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy

The potential of near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) to detectwithin-plant differences for seed protein content was investigated. Fourhundred and fifty-one single seeds were scanned by NIRS using a specialadapter. After non-destructive NIRS scanning, the seeds were analysed forprotein content by the Dumas combustion method and a calibrationequation was developed. A validation set of 117 additional seeds fromthree individual plants from the cultivars Bristol, Lirajet and Maplus wasanalysed for protein content both by NIRS and combustion. The coefficientof determination between NIRS and combustion values in the validation setwas 0.94, with a standard error of performance (SEP) of 0.77% and aratio of the SEP to the standard deviation (SD) of the validation set of0.28. The coefficient of variation (CV) for seed protein content inindividual plants, as determined by the combustion method, was 11.7%for Bristol, 8.9% for Lirajet, and 9.5% for Maplus. The comparison ofsuch variation with the standard error (SE) of NIRS analysis, defined as thecombination of the SE of the combustion method and the SEP of NIRScalibration equation, revealed that the maximum explainable variance withinindividual plants that can be detected using NIRS analysis of proteincontent in single seeds was 0.86 for Bristol, 0.83 for Lirajet, and 0.85 forMaplus. These results demonstrated that NIRS is a powerful tool fornon-destructive assessment of within-plant variation for seed protein contentin rapeseed.     

肥料配施对高赖氨酸玉米产量及品质性状的影响

采用盆栽和池栽相结合的方法，研究不同肥料配施对高赖氨酸玉米(中单9409)产量和品质的影响。结果表明：施氮肥可明显增加其子粒产量，且子粒中游离氨基酸总量和蛋白质含量均有提高，但子粒中赖氨酸的含量却明显降低。氮、磷、钾配施或在此基础上增施微肥，不仅可以加速子粒的发育，提高千粒重，增加穗长，减少秃尖，增加单穗粒重，产量提高，而且可提高子粒中蛋白质和赖氨酸的含量。单施有机肥对高赖氨酸玉米产量和品质的改善效果不明显。     

Particle-Bombardment-Mediated Co-Transformation of Maize with a Lysine Rich Protein Gene (sb401) from potato

Summary Little work has been reported on genetic transformation with maize inbred lines, especially elite inbred lines used in breeding. In this work, 7 self-pollinated inbred lines and 4 hybrid lines have been screened. The results revealed that calli derived from immature embryos from two inbred lines X333 and X301 were compact, hyperhydric and unsuitable for transformation, but the calli induced from other inbred lines and all the hybrid lines were friable and yellow and could be used for genetic transformation. The sb401 gene isolated from potato (Solanum berthaultii) encodes a protein with a high lysine content. Maize calli from 5 self-pollinated inbred lines and 4 hybrid lines were transformed using particle-bombardment with different plasmids to simultaneously introduce the sb401 lysine rich gene and the selectable gene hpt respectively. Two hundred and sixty-eight regenerated plants were obtained from these genotypes. Co-insertion was confirmed in 29 regenerated plants by PCR and Southern blot analysis. Transgene segregation of the R1 plants was observed and one marker-free transgenic maize line was recovered. Analysis of the crude protein content in mature seeds of R1 transgenic plants also showed an increase from 36.8% to 48.2%. This study thus provides a workable system for generating transgenic maize free from selectable marker genes and generates valuable resources for obtaining marker free transgenic maize with a high-lysine protein content.