Comparison of some selection procedures and objectives in faba beans (Vicia faba L.). II. Selection for crude protein content

Summary Starting with two heterogeneous F₂ populations, each based on 20 cross combinations, different types of selection were applied for four consecutive selection cycles. Three of the selection procedures involved crude protein content (CP) and are presented in this paper. They were selection for high CP (HP), selection for low CP (LP) and independent culling levels selection for high CP and an index for seed yield per plant (ICL). For ICL-selection the attention is focussed on CP in this paper.For all three selection procedures, predicted and realized responses were calculated and expressed as percentage of a corresponding random population. The selection intensities (i) differed over selection procedures and generations. Differences in i between HP and LP within generations were mostly of minor interest. The response to HP-selection was slightly higher than to ICL-selection, but this may be due to the higher selection intensity exerted with the former method.HP-and LP-selection showed some remarkable differences, which were interpreted as a tendency towards partial dominance of high over low protein content. The total response to HP-selection gradually increased, whereas LP-selection yielded the total response largely after only one cycle of selection. The predicted response showed a tendency towards overestimation in the case of HP-selection and to underestimation in the case of LP-selection.Selection for high protein yield through CP seems to be feasible, although improvement of yield stability may eventually be more necessary. As no consistent correlation, either positive or negative, between SYP and CP could be detected, selection for either of these characters may be considerd independently of selection for the other one.     

Grain-yield characteristics of oat lines surviving uniform and shuttle selection strategies

Summary Four selection strategies were used on four sets of oat lines to select for grain yield. Two of these used uniform environments whereby sequential selection of the high-yielding lines occurred in continuous high- or continuous low-productivity environments. These are referred to as high and low uniform selection strategies, respectively. The other two selection strategies were conducted by sequential selection of the high-yielding lines in alternating high- and low-productivity environments. They are referred to as high and low shuttle selection strategies, respectively, with high and low designating the productivity of the first environment in the sequence. After three or four cycles of selection, the surviving lines and a random sample from each set were evaluated for mean grain yield, grain yield response to improving environments, and stability of grain yield, in a range of environments typical of oat production on Iowa farms.Grain yield and regression response for all selection strategies, when calculated across all sets of lines, were significantly greater than corresponding values for random samples. Stability was unchanged. The uniform-high and uniform-low strategies gave the greatest and the smallest gains in mean grain yield, respectively, with the shuttle strategies giving intermediate gains. Shuttle selection in predominantly high-productivity environments increased grain yield more than shuttle selection in predominantly low-productivity environments. The uniform-strategy followed by the shuttle-high strategy identified entries with superior performance in high productivity environments. Increased gain in mean grain yield across all environments was associated with increased number of selection cycles conducted in high-productivity environments.Journal Paper No. J-15252 of the Iowa Agric. and Home Econ. Exp. Stn., Ames, Iowa 50011, USA. Project No. 2447.     

Genetic analysis of drought stress response in rapeseed (Brassica campestris and B. napus). I. Assessment of environments for maximum selection response in grain yield

Summary Expectations of yield improvement in environments where drought was the major environmental factor limiting yields were studied in two species of rapeseed. Selection for yield in a drought stressed environment was predicted to be a more efficient selection stategy for yield improvement in dryland situations than selection in a more optimal environment, or selection based on a drought response index. The results indicate that selection for yield in a stressed environment are expected to lead to genetic advances in yield under optimal conditions as well as in a drought index. Selection under well watered conditions, on the other hand, was also expected to lead to correlated increases in yield in droughted environments but to decreases in the drought index. These results were found in both species of rapeseed grown in different water stress situations.The genetic advance in a drought response index was predicted to be greater in B. napus and marginally less in B. campestris if selection was practised for yield in a stressed environment rather than direct selection for the drought index. This was due to the higher heritability estimates in the stressed environments and the positive genetic correlations with yield.     

A comparison of several procedures for mass selection in winter rye. II. What are the merits of adjusting phenotypic values?

Summary To get an improved impression of the genotypic value of individual plants the literature suggests to adjust their phenotypic values according to a moving mean correction or by means of an analysis of covariance, where the mean phenotypic value calculated across neighbours is used as the concomitant variable. In the present paper it is shown that the theoretical merits of these adjustments are promising: they eliminate the contribution due to the trend in soil fertility from the phenotypic value. In an experimental verification actual merits did, however, not show up.It is concluded that interplant competition is the main cause for the failure of the studied adjustments. These may be effective in virtual absence of intergenotypic competition. Thus, in case of single plant selection an extremely low plant density would be required, whereas selection among lines or families would require evaluation by means of multi-row plots.     

Comparison of some selection procedures and objectives in faba beans (Vicia faba L.). I. direct and index selection for seed yield

Summary Starting with two heterogeneous F₂ populations, each based on 20 cross combinations, different selection procedures were applied for four consecutive selection cycles. Three of the selection procedures involved seed yield per plant (SYP): (i) direct selection for SYP (DSY); (ii) indexselection for SYP (ISY) with plant length, the ratio of the vegetative top to plant length, end of grain filling and duration of the generative stage as auxiliary characters and finally; (iii) independent culling levels selection (ICL) for the index described above and crude protein content. For ICL-selection the attention is focussed on SYP in this paper.For all three selection procedures, predicted and realized responses were calculated and expressed as percentage of a corresponding non-selected population. The intensities of selection differed over selection methods and generations, mostly due to practical constraints.As far as predicted responses are concerned, ISY-selection seemed to be slightly superior to DSY-selection and DSY-selection to ICL-selection. This order may partly be due to differences in selection intensity. However, none of the predictions was very accurate, but the predictions of ICL-selection seemed to be the most accurate. This has been ascribed also to the relative mild selection intensity applied in ICL-selection. It is concluded that a decision in favour of a complicated selection procedure like index selection based on predicted responses only cannot be defended. As far as realized responses are concerned, DSY-selection seems to be slightly superior to the other two selection procedures, as it is the only procedure that resulted in a more or less stable positive response to selection.The auxiliary characters, especially plant length, showed a marked correlated response to all three selection procedures. In case of direct selection for SYP this seemed paradoxical with the inefficiency of index selection, but, it may reflect the differences in the genuine genotypic correlations and the estimated genotypic correlations.     

The effect of interplant distance on the effectiveness of honeycomb selection. II. Results of the second selection cycle

Summary For a second consecutive generation, the efficiency of the honeycomb selection procedure was observed at low and at high density, i.e. interplant distance being 100 cm and 15 cm respectively. Progress due to selection was determined for each of the two plant densities applied by comparing the performance of offspring from selected plants with that of offspring from plants taken at random. The relation between selection intensity and selection response was observed to study the relation between competing and yielding ability in presence and in absence of interplant competition.Compared to results obtained in a previous generation, it is now dared to be more positive about the perspectives of selection in absence of interplant competition. It is tentatively concluded that single plant selection for yield at wide spacing gives a higher progress and allows a better identification of outstanding genotypes. However, the superiority of selection at low density is not confirmed neither by any estimator of a quantitative genetic parameter nor by the correlation between single plant yield and plot yield of their offspring. The disturbing factors found already in the former generation, namely variation in seed quality and a biased sample of random plants, exerted a less important role in the estimation of the progress. Nevertheless, it is believed that only when they can be reduced more reliable results can be achieved.     

A methodological study on participatory barley breeding II. Response to selection

Farmer participation is increasingly seen as a key to develop technologies which are more relevant to farmers' communities. In plant breeding, farmer participation is seen as key to increase the probability of adoption of new varieties. This paper addresses the issue of selection efficiency in participatory plant breeding by testing the effect of selection environment and of who did the selection in one cropping season (1997) on the performance of the selected lines in the following cropping season (1998). Selection environment had a larger effect on response to selection than who did the selection, confirming the importance of decentralized selection. Selections made by the breeder and the farmers in 1997, differed in 1998 for a number of traits, but seldom for grain yield. When the difference for grain yield was significant, breeder's selection was more effective on station, while farmers' selection was more effective in farmers' fields. The results of this study indicate that it is possible to organize a plant breeding program with the objective of adapting crops to a multitude of both physical and socio-economic environments: such a breeding program will, at the same time, increase productivity and stability, enhance biodiversity and produce environmentally friendly cultivars. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Single plant selection for yield in lentil

Summary Individual plant selection for yield in lentil is problematic at a commercial crop density primarily because of inter-plant entanglement by tendrils. Visual plant selection for yield was compared with random selection in the F₅ at three plant densities (66, 133 and 200 seeds/m²) by an evaluation of F₇ progeny yields over two seasons in two populations of lentil. Random plant sampling was as effective as visual plant selection in isolating high-yielding F₇ lines. The plant density of the selection environment did not affect the response to selection. The correlations between the seed number of selected F₅ plants and the mean yield of their F₇ progenies were r=+–0.26 and –0.06 in two populations, indicating the lack of positive response to plant selection for seed number. The results show that 1) random sampling is the most economic of the methods tested of plant selection for yield and 2) the plant density of the environment for plant selection can be low enough to avoid inter-plant entanglement by tendrils, allowing a focus in plant selection on characters, other than yield, of importance to the breeding program and with a higher heritability than yield.     

Indirect selection for grain protein and grain yield in winter wheat

Summary The efficiency of the honeycomb selection procedure in selecting outstanding genotypes was observed at two interplant distances (d), i.e. d=100 cm, low density, representing noncompetitive conditions and d=15 cm, high density, representing presence of interplant competition. Progress due to selection among the plants grown with and without competition was established by comparison of the plot performance of offspring from selected plants with that of offspring from plants taken at random. The relation between selection intensity and response to selection was observed to detect a possible negative correlation between competing and yielding ability.So far, the results obtained do not yet allow to make a choice between selection of individual plants in presence or in absence of interplant competition. No significant correlation between single plant yield and plot yield was found at any of the two densities. However, response to selection for yield was higher when selecting at low density supporting Fasoulas' preference for selecting single plants in absence of competition. These results must be taken with caution since seed quality and a biassed sample of random plants exerted an important effect on the obtained response to selection.     

The potential for early generation selection to identify potato clones with resistance to Verticillium wilt

Verticillium wilt (VW) of potato, caused primarily by the fungus Verticillium dahliae, results in yield loss and is therefore an important soil-borne disease. Resistance to VW exists in potato germplasm and is used by breeders during cultivar development. Breeders could make more rapid progress toward the development of VW resistant clones if they had an effective early generation selection strategy. The purpose of this study was to determine whether selection for VW resistance could be carried out in the first tuber generation on single hills. One hundred and fifty-two clones from 19 families were planted as single hills on a V. dahliae-infested field. Each plant was scored for vine maturity, VW symptom expression, yield, stem colonization (colony forming units (cfu), in dried basal stem segments) and incidence (percent infected stems). In the second clonal generation, which consisted of replicated four-hill plots, stem colonization scores and incidence values were used to identify clones which were more resistant than a moderately resistant cultivar and others which were more susceptible than a susceptible cultivar. The efficiency and reliability of the single-hill selection strategy, based on symptoms and yield, was then determined by comparison to the four-hill results. We determined that the best single-hill selection strategy was negative selection (discard clones with the lowest performance) with low stringency, based on yield.     

Reciprocal recurrent selection applied to Coffea canephora Pierre. I. Characterization and evaluation of breeding populations and value of intergroup hybrids

Summary Two breeding populations have been identified with Coffea canephora, based on geographical and genetic differences: the Guinean group from West Africa and the Congolese group from central Africa. A reciprocal recurrent selection programme based on these groups was initiated in Côte d'Ivoire in 1984. Genotypes of both groups available in field collections are either of cultivated or wild origin.Genotypic and phenotypic variability was evaluated within and between the groups for the following characteristics: isozyme patterns, architecture, drought tolerance and vigour, technological and organoleptic traits, pest and disease resistance. Variation between and within groups was found to be large. Based on isozyme analysis and phenotypic observations, two subgroups were identified within the Congolese group. Phenotypic values of parents and testers used in the first cycle of reciprocal recurrent selection are presented.Results of two intergroup hybrid trials indicate high yield and vigour for these hybrids compared to intragroup hybrids, justifying the reciprocal selection approach. Furthermore, the variation observed indicates that recurrent selection would allow progress for selection traits for both populations and intergroup hybrids.     

Additive gene action for resistance to Puccinia striiformis F.SP. Tritici in Triticum dicoccoides

Summary Seven single-plant selections of wild emmer, with temperature-sensitive minor-effect genes for stripe rust resistance, were intercrossed in eight combinations. The resulting progenies were studied for a possible additive gene action.The transgressive segregation towards resistance in F₂ observed in all the combinations indicates that additive gene action for resistance indeed occurs in wild emmer. The common occurrence of this phenomenon in random combinations suggests further that several minor-effect genes are involved.Following selection of the most resistant plants in F₂, a marked shift towards resistance was noted in F₃, which demonstrates a positive response to selection. In some instances, additive resistance selected for (in F₂) at the high temperature-profile was expressed (in F₃) also at the low temperature-profile. This kind of resistance, when utilized in breeding programmes, promises therefore to be effective over a range of temperatures.     

The response to temperature of leaf area in tomato genotypes. I. cell size and number in relation to the area of a leaf

Summary An investigation was carried out into the genotypic variation in the response to temperature of leaf area in tomatoes. Differences between genotypes in the response of the area of a leaf to contrasting temperature regimes were found, and this was due to variation in the number of epidermal cells. The epidermal cell size showed little response to temperature. The results are discussed in relation to the potential for selection for improved leaf area and the development of a rapid screening test for cold tolerance.Guestworker Project Group Tomato Physiology.     

Effects of competition and selection pressure on yield response in winter rye (Secale cereale L.)

Summary Three intensities of mass honeycomb selection (14.3,5.3 and 1.6%) applied to an unselected rye population gave respectively an annual yield response of 0.28, -3.69 and -5.20% at 15 cm spacing, and of 4.07, 5.39 and 8.99% at 90 cm spacing. The negative response with competition was explained by strong negative correlation between competing and yielding ability which causes positive skewness because of transposition of low yielders and strong competitors from the left to the right tail of the distribution. The positive response in the absence of competition was mainly due to the increased genotypic differentiation which allowed effective discrimination between high and low yielding genotypes. The efficiency of the selection in the absence of competition was further improved by using the honeycomb designs which adjust soil heterogeneity and application of very high family and individual selection pressures.Two cycles of mass honeycomb selection increased the population yield by 29.4%, one cycle of mass plus one cycle of pedigree honeycomb selection did so by 34.5%. The results are discussed in relation to the selection response and to the efficiency of various breeding schemes.Part of senior author's doctoral thesis     

Genetic control of photoperiodic sensivity and maturity in spring wheat within narrow limits of adaptation

Summary Photoperiodic respose, as assessed by a regression technique, exhibited complete dominance averaged over the crosses of an eight parent diallel in the vernalized condition. Photoperiodic response as final leaf number for the vernalized 8-hour photoperiod diallel was closely related to photoeriodic response of the regression method. However, the diallel analyses of both sets of data showed little agreement in terms of respectieve array positions.The inheritance of photoperiodic response in diallels using regression values showed little agreement between the vernalized and unvernalized conditions. This difference was postulated to be due to interaction of vernalization and photoperiodic response in the unvernalized situation. In the unvernalized condition photoperiodic response exhibited non-allelic interaction, attributable mainly to the cultivar Pinnacle in general behaviour in its crosses. Its removal gave a situation of high average dominance for photoperiodic response with a clear indication that high photoperiodic sensitivity was dominant to comparative insensitivity.Days to ear emergence (vernalized and 18-hour photoperiod) exhibited non-allelic interaction in its expression, due mainly to the general behaviour of the cultivar Pinnacle in its crosses. Removal of its array gave a situation of a moderately strong degree of overdominance in the expression of days to ear emergence. Maturity differences amongst parents and F₁'s, vernalized and under 18-hour photoperiod, are postulated to be due to a factor other than vernalization or photoperiodic response beheved to be growth temperature in differentially in fluencing growth and/or developmental rates between genotypes.     

Heritability of paraquat tolerance in Lolium perenne L.

Summary Paraquat tolerance has been studied in an experimental population of Lolium perenne. After applying various concentrations of the herbicide, eye assessments of damage were made, and yield responses recorded. There was a quantitative pattern of variation; heritability was studied by analyzing (a) variation within and between families of half-sibs, and (b) the regression of progeny on their female parent. Heritability values were mostly in the range 0.51 to 0.72. It is concluded that it would be possible to increase tolerance to paraquat by selection, and that selection on eye assessment would be almost as effective as selection on yield response.     

An improved breeding strategy for autotetraploid alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.)

Alfalfa cultivar development will be enhanced by breeding strategies whichutilize the full potential of autotetraploid population genetic structures. Thisstudy evaluates the effectiveness of an allelic selection scheme, which wasdeveloped to overcome limitations of inbreeding depression and to exploitgeneral and specific combining ability effects in autotetraploid populations.Allelic selection entails the minimization of non-additive genetic effects byselecting among full-sib families (F1) which are at uniform levels ofheterozygosity. Such F1 lines are developed by crossing individuals fromtwo unrelated random mating populations. Selected F1 lines wereintercrossed to form an improved population. Eight random matingpopulations of alfalfa were developed to study the effectiveness of allelicselection. Selection for increased dry matter yield resulted in alfalfapopulations with 38 percent greater yield than the parent populations. Twocycles of intercrossing, among selected F1 lines, did not dissipate the gainfrom selection. This result has important implications for synthetic cultivardevelopment in which a major limitation is the decline in productivity withadvancing generations of seed increase. A positively correlated response toselection for dry matter yield was observed for plant height and stemdiameter. The results of this research indicate that continued testing of theallelic selection scheme is warranted and could have a significant impact onthe breeding of autotetraploid alfalfa, particularly for synthetic cultivardevelopment.     

Resistance in Cucumis sativus L. to Tetranychus urticae Koch. 5. raising the resistance level by the exploitation of transgression

summary After crossing partially resistant varieties some lines with a markedly higher resistance level were selected. This transgression for resistance indicates a polygenic inheritance of the resistance. On the most resistant F₅ lines selected, oviposition was reduced by 50 to 60% and the economic damage threshold was reached 5 to 8 weeks later than in the susceptible control. The level of acceptance was not influenced by the selection.The selection of individual F₂ plants was hampered by low heritabilities, whereas the heritabilities of F₃- and subsequent line means were generally high enough. Selection for higher resistance levels was attended by an unintended increase in cucurbitacin content. This is explained by linkage of genes for resistance and bitterness rather than by identity of these genes.     

The effect of skewness on selection in a plant breeding program

Summary The distribution of many plant characters is skewed. The standard formula for the expected gain from selection is based on the assumption that the character value is the sum of two independent normal variables, one genetic and the other environmental. If the genetic variable is normal, but the environmental variable has a positively skewed distribution, then upwards selection will give a lower gain than that expected if both distributions are normal. If the distribution of the environmental variable is negatively skewed, then upwards selection will give a larger than expected gain. Of course, with downwards selection, the results will be reversed. This leads to asymmetry of response if both upwards and downwards selection are used. In cases where unexpected responses to selection are obtained and normality of the character distribution has been assumed, skewness of the data should be checked as possible cause.     

Effect of selection for coleoptile length in rye,Secale cereale L.

Summary Two hundred and forty seedlings from each of three diverse populations were measured for coleoptile length. Significant differences between populations were found for mean coleoptile length. Considerable variability was obtained within each population with coefficient of variation values ranging from 32 to 42%. Forty seedlings from each population were placed into one of three selection groups: random (0); shortest 20% (S20); and longest 20% (L20). The plants within each group in each population were allowed to interpollinate. The coleoptile length of 100 seedlings from each group obtained from the interpollination was then measured. This experiment was repeated in each of two successive years. Positive response to selection was found in all populations in both years. The means of the L20 selection group were significantly higher than the means of the 0 group in 6 out of 6 comparisons. The means of the S20 group were significantly lower than the means of the 0 group in only 2 out of 6 comparisons. Selection response values also reflected these results. Therefore, selection for long coleoptile length was considerably more effective and consistent than selection for short coleoptile length. These results suggest that short coleoptile length may be partially dominant to long coleoptile length. No significant correlation between seed weight and coleoptile length was found indicating that selection for coleoptile length on the basis of seed weight would probably be ineffective.Journal Series No. 5325, Florida Agricultural Experiment Station.