Abstract
BackgroundAlfalfa (Medicago sativa) is one of the most important legume forage species in China and many other countries of the world. It provides a quality source of proteins and minerals to animals. Genetic underpinnings for these important traits, however, are elusive. An alfalfa (M. sativa) association mapping study for six traits, namely crude protein (CP), rumen undegraded protein (RUP), and four mineral elements (Ca, K, Mg and P), was conducted in three consecutive years using a large collection encompassing 336 genotypes genotyped with 85 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers.ResultsAll the traits were significantly influenced by genotype, environment, and genotype × environment interaction. Eight-five significant associations (P < 0.005) were identified. Among these, five associations with Ca were repeatedly observed and six co-localized associations were identified.ConclusionsThe identified marker alleles significantly associated with the traits provided important information for understanding genetic controls of alfalfa quality. The markers could be used in assisting selection for the individual traits in breeding populations for developing new alfalfa cultivars.
Highlights
Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) is one of the most important legume forage species in China and many other countries of the world
The results indicated sufficient genetic variability existed in the alfalfa collection that was appropriate for the association mapping research
The present study is the first attempt in characterizing the alfalfa genotypes using genomic simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers for crude protein (CP), rumen undegraded protein (RUP), and four mineral elements (Ca, K, Mg and P) traits in a diverse set of worldwide collection of alfalfa accessions
Summary
Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) is one of the most important legume forage species in China and many other countries of the world It provides a quality source of proteins and minerals to animals. An alfalfa (M. sativa) association mapping study for six traits, namely crude protein (CP), rumen undegraded protein (RUP), and four mineral elements (Ca, K, Mg and P), was conducted in three consecutive years using a large collection encompassing 336 genotypes genotyped with 85 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Association mapping is a recently-emerged alternative robust tool to overcome the restriction of classical QTL mapping [13] It has been widely applied in the major crop species to detect QTLs by establishing marker-trait associations [14,15,16,17,18]. Genome wide association (GWAS) approach was used to investigate SSR markers associated with the six quality traits in a core collection of alfalfa
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