Generation of paternal dihaploids in tall fescue

Abstract

AbstractWithin the Lolium‐Festuca 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 dihaploid (DH) inducer lines of annual ryegrass (Lolium perenne L. subsp. multiflorum (Lam.) Husnot [syn. Lolium multiflorum Lam.]) that exhibit genome loss when hybridized with tall fescue (Lolium arundinaceum (Schreb.) Darbysh. [syn. Festuca arundinacea Schreb.]) can provide an alternative breeding approach. Hybridizations between the inducer lines and tall fescue result in F1 hybrids that can lose either their ryegrass or tall fescue genomes. This behavior results in the occasional generation of both ryegrass and tall fescue DH lines through parthenogenic embryo formation within the F1 inflorescence.