Variation of PGM and IDH isozymes for identification of alfalfa varieties

Growth habit, heading date and Vrn genotypewere examined for wheat landraces cultivated in China,Korea and Japan, to study their ecogeographicaldifferentiation in east Asia. Spring type landracesaccounted for 43.6% of the whole, and the frequencyvaried between the localities, being closely relatedto the degree of winter coldness. Spring typelandraces mainly adapted to north and south Chinawhere average January temperature is under –7 ^°Cand over 4 ^°C, respectively. On the contrary,winter type adapted to areas of average Januarytemperature from –7 ^°C to 4 ^°C. As toheading date, significant difference was not observedbetween spring and winter type landraces but betweenlocalities, and those cultivated in north China weresignificantly later in heading. It is thereforeindicated that spring type mainly adapts to areaswhere wheat is sown in spring to avoid frost injury,and where winter temperature is not low enough tovernalize winter type wheat. Genetic analysis forspring type landraces showed that the relativefrequency of four Vrn genes was different witheach other. Vrn3 was most widely and frequentlyfound among the four genes, followed by Vrn1 andVrn2. Only seven landraces proved to be thecarrier of Vrn4. The frequency was alsodifferent between localities. Genotype with Vrn1plus other dominant gene(s) adapted to spring sowingto avoid severely cold winter in north China, whilegenotype with only Vrn3 adapted to winter sowingin south China and southwest Japan. It is thereforeconcluded that at least three ecotypes, differing ingrowth habit and Vrn genotype, areallopatrically distributed in east Asia, as a resultof adaptation to winter coldness in each locality.