Barriers to hybridization of Solanum bulbocastanum Dun. and S. Verrucosum Schlechtd. and structural hybridity in their F1 plants

Summary Results of reciprocal crosses between Solanum verrucosum (2n=2x=24) and S. bulbocastanum (2n=2x=24) are described in terms of pollen tube behaviour in styles, of berry and seed set, of fertility and of meiotic behaviour of the F₁ hybrids. Pollen tube growth of S. verrucosum is strongly inhibited in styles of S. bulbocastanum, whereas no inhibition is observed in the reciprocal cross. Therefore S. bulbocastanum x S. verrucosum fails to set berries or seeds, whereas the reciprocal cross produces both berries (54.4% berry set) and seeds (0.3 per berry). Only 14.6% of the seeds germinate. Both the diploid and corresponding tetraploid hybrid plants are vigorous, flower abundantly, have a rather regular meiosis (mainly rod bivalents), but show a high degree of cytoplasmic-genic male sterility. Crossability of the diploid hybrid plants is nil when used as pollen parents and near to zero when used as pistillate parents. The barriers to hybridization of the parent species (unilateral inhibition of pollen tube growth, somatoplastic sterility, cytoplasmic-genic male sterility and structural differences of the parental chromosomes) are discussed and methods are suggested to overcome these barriers.     

Interspecific hybrids of sunflower as a source of Sclerotinia resistance

Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is considered the most devastating pathogen of sunflower grown in humid environments. In this study, progenies of partial hybrids between Helianthus maximiliani, a wild species that has been shown to be resistant to S. sclerotiorum, and H. annuus were characterized by amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis to identify whether there are introgressions from H. maximiliani into the cultivated sunflower at the molecular level. Wild species‐specific fragments as well as fragments not found in either parent were detected. Progenies tended to cluster together according to the original partial hybrids in the dendrogram by the use of bootstrap procedures. The progenies were studied for their reaction to S. sclerotiorum using artificial inoculation of sunflower heads. Some of the progenies showed a higher level of resistance compared with resistant inbred lines. It was possible to identify two AFLP‐fragments which seem to be linked to Sclerotinia resistance.     

Rhizobium specificity of Trifolium ambiguum M. Bieb × T. repens L. hybrid clovers

Growth of full-sib families of an F₁ interspecific hybrid between Trifolium ambiguum M.Bieb and T. repens L, and two generations of backcross hybrids (BC₁F₂ and BC₂F₁) with T. repens as the recurrent parent, were compared to their parental species. Plants were grown in a N-free medium and inoculated with Rhizobium leguminosarum biovar trifolii rhizobia effective on T. ambiguum or T. repens. Hybridisation produced progeny that nodulated with rhizobia from either T. ambiguum or T. repens, but plant growth varied. Mean weights of T. repens and hybrids, particularly F₁ and BC₁F₂, were higher when inoculated with a mixture of strains isolated from field grown T. repens than with the New Zealand inoculant strain for T. repens. When inoculated with the mix of rhizobia from T. repens, mean weights were 242, 189, 132, 125, and 100 mg/plant for T. repens, BC₂F₁, BC₁F₂, F₁ and T. ambiguum, respectively. However, although the mean weight of BC₂F₁ lines was significantly less than T. repens, there was considerable variation in individual full-sib families indicating the potential to select within BC₂F₁ hybrids for high plant growth/symbiotic nitrogen fixation. The weight of T. ambiguumplants inoculated with the New Zealand inoculant strain for hexaploid T. ambiguum was similar to T. repens inoculated with the mix of rhizobia from T. repens (253 and 242 mg/plant, respectively). Mean fresh weights of F₁ hybrid plants were similar when inoculated with rhizobia for T. ambiguum or T. repens (125 and 130 mg/plant, respectively). However, weight of T. repens, BC₁F₂ and BC₂F₁ hybrids inoculated with rhizobia for T. ambiguum were all less than 90 mg/plant. There was a significant relationship between plant fresh weight and ethylene production. The results indicate that measuring weights of inoculated plants growing in N-free media is a rapid initial method of screening a range of plant germplasm for plant growth/symbiotic nitrogen fixation rates. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Male fertility and cytology of triploid hybrids between tetraploidSolanum commersonii (2n=4x=48, 2EBN) and Phureja-Tuberosum haploid hybrids (2n=2x=24, 2EBN)

Summary Solanum commersonii Dun. is a diploid (2n=2x=24, 1EBN) wild species of potential value for potato breeding. It is a reproductively isolated species and cannot be crossed with Tuberosum haploids (2n=2x=24, 2EBN) or other diploid 2EBNSolanum species. In order to overcome the EBN barriers, triploid hybrids were produced between Phureja-Tuberosum haploid hybrids, which form 2n pollen grains by parallel spindles, and tetraploidS. commersonii. Microsporogenesis analysis of the triploids indicated a trend towards low values of chromosome distribution at Anaphase I; lagging chromosomes were often observed as well. Despite these abnormalities, the percentage of stainable pollen was very high, ranging from 5.0% to 74.3%. A high variation in pollen grain diameter was also evident. Parallel and tripolar orientation of spindles at Metaphase II of microsporogenesis was a common feature of all the triploids analyzed, but dyads and triads were observed at a very low frequency. Therefore, also the frequency of 2n pollen was very low; the different size of stainable pollen appears to represent the ploidy levels which are possible according to the distribution of chromosomes in Anaphase I. The results obtained also suggest thatS. commersonii could have minor genes acting at the end of meiosis in such a way that, despite the presence of parallel/tripolar spindles, dyads/triads are not formed.Contribution no. 124 from the Research Center for Vegetable Breeding.     

Glucosinolate content in interspecific crosses of Brassica carinata with B. juncea and B. napus

Brassica carinata A. Braun is a highly productive oilseed crop in the Ethiopian highlands, but the seed has a high 2-propenyl glucosinolate content, which is undesirable. The objective of this study was to introgress, through interspecific crosses, genes for low 2-propenyl glucosinolate content from the B genome of B. juncea and C genome of B. napus into the B. carinata B and C genomes and thus develop low glucosinolate B. carinata. The cross [(B. carinata×B. juncea) ×B. carinata] yielded plants that contained only ～ 20 μmoles of 2-propenyl glucosinolate, which was an 85% reduction compared with levels in B. carinata seed. Plants of the [(B. carinata×B. napus) ×B. carinata] cross had normal high concentrations of 2-propenyl glucosinolate. Backcross plants of both interspecific crosses also contained 3-butenyl and 2-hydroxy-3-butenyl glucosinolates. The results of these crosses suggested that genes for glucosinolate synthesis were located on B genome chromosomes of B. carinata because B. napus C genome introgressions did not result in reductions of total glucosinolate contents. The total alkenyl glucosinolate content of one F₃ family of the B. juncea backcross was similar to that of the B. juncea parent. It was concluded that through further selection in this family, B. carinata plants could be identified that would be basically free of 2-propenyl glucosinolate, and have a low total alkenyl glucosinolate content.     

Interspecific hybridization between Cicer arietinum and C. pinnatifidum

An interspecific hybrid between Cicer arietinum cv. GL 769 and a wild species C. pinnatifidum was obtained after emasculation, pollination and application of growth regulators. Ovules were cultured and embryos were later dissected to obtain hybrid plants. These plants were albinos and morphologically resembled C. pinnatifidum. Shrivelled seeds were also obtained in 2% of the crosses, which on germination gave rise to albino plants. These plants did not survive beyond 20 days. The hybrid nature of these plants was confirmed by esterase isozyme studies. Hybrid shoots obtained from germinating embryos were cultured on modified ML-6 medium with BAP 2 mg/1, IAA 0.5 mg/1, where they turned green after 3–4 weeks. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies on leaf sections from green hybrid shoots showed an improvement in the chloroplast structure, with better organized grana.     

棉属野生棉与栽培棉种间杂交新种质创造研究

棉属(Gpssypium)野生资源具有的抗病、虫,抗旱及优质纤维等遗传特性,通过种间杂交可转育到栽培棉,以丰富和改善现有栽培棉品种的遗传特性或创造新的优异种质材料供育种利用。本文报道用23个棉属的野生种与4个栽培种的品种杂交,获得不同世代的47个组合杂种,并从一部分杂种后代培育出一批抗病、虫,抗旱和纤维高强优质等遗传特性的新种质。同时研究了有关种间杂交的不亲和性、杂种F_1的遗传性状以及细胞遗传学、胚胎学等问题。     

Variation for reproductive and agronomic traits among T. repens × T. nigrescens third generation backcross hybrids in the field

Interspecific hybridisation with Trifolium nigrescens Viv. is a possible strategy to improve the reproductive potential of white clover (Trifolium repens L.). Following the development of a fertile F1 hybrid, three generations of backcrossing have been carried out usingT. repens as the recurrent parent. Vegetative characteristics, stolon growth and seed yield components of the backcross (BC) 2 and 3 generations, as well as the parental species were measured on spaced plants grown in the field. Leaf size and plant spread of the BC2 and BC3 generations were less than T. repens but there was no difference in plant fresh weight. Numbers of inflorescences per plant and florets per inflorescence of the backcrosses were greater than T. repens however this was not reflected indifferences in seed yield per plant asT. repens had more seeds per floret and per plant than the backcrosses. Differences in stolon length, the proportion of flowering nodes and the pattern of axillary bud development were observed between T. repens and the backcrosses. Significant variation among the BC 3 generation for vegetative and reproductive traits was observed. Individual plants among the BC 3 generation were identified that combine high forage yield, substantial inflorescence production and good fertility, and these will form the basis of further selection. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Introgression of in vitro regeneration capability of Lycopersicon pimpinellifolium Mill. into recalcitrant tomato cultivars

The goal of this research was to study the introgression of the high regeneration capacity of Lycopersicon pimpinellifolium Mill line WV-700, in recalcitrant tomato cultivars (L. esculentum Mill cvs. Petomech, Santa Rita and VFN-8) using backcrossing. Hypocotyl explants of in vitro germinated seeds were cultivated in half strength MS medium supplemented with 5mg/l 6-BA to assess their shoot regeneration capacity. The apical shoot of the in vitro germinated seeds were cultured on a separate medium. Apical shoots from genotypes showing high regeneration rates were acclimated in a glasshouse and used as pollen donors for the next backcrossing. After four backcrossings, the material showed a similar mean fruit weight for the cultivated tomato and a high regeneration capacity similar to the wild species. It is shown that L. pimpinellifolium can be used with success as donor parent to introgress in vitro regeneration capacity to recalcitrant tomato cultivars. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Potential for Selection in the Progeny of an Interspecific Hybrid in Foxtail Millet

Genetic variation for morphology and grain yield components was studied in the F₂ and 14 F₃ families of an interspecific cross of Setaria italica (foxtail millet) with S. viridis s. s. (green foxtail). It appeared possible to recover the cultivated type using a simple selection procedure in F₂ and F₃. Comparison with a cross involving S. viridis var. major (giant green foxtail) is discussed.