Abstract
Buffel grass (Cenchrus ciliaris L. syn. Pennisetum ciliare (L.) Link) is a species that is highly tolerant to drought and is used primarily as forage in drier regions throughout the subtropics and tropics. It reproduces mainly by apomixis and the acquisition of obligate sexual genotypes or facultative apomicts with high levels of sexuality is required for performing crosses and plant improvement. The aim of this study was to obtain sexual genotypes from controlled crosses using obligate apomictic cultivars and a sexual line. Twelve putative hybrid F1 plants were selected morphologically and two of them were identified as sexual genotypes by PCR using specific primers for reproductive mechanism. Cytoembryological analysis showed 65.5 and 71.3% meiotic embryo sacs in these plants and their hybrid nature was corroborated by AFLP. Both highly sexual genotypes could be used as female parents in crosses for obtaining improved cultivars of buffel grass.
Highlights
Cattle production in northwestern Argentina (NOA) is essentially pastoral, and subtropical and tropical perennial grasses are the main cultivated forage resources
In Argentina, buffel grass (Cenchrus ciliaris L.), among subtropical pastures, has demonstrated an excellent performance, and is adapted to soil and harsh climatic conditions prevailing in the NOA
PCR technique Because materials obtained from F1 hybrids may be apomictic or sexual genotypes, the selected F1s were evaluated by PCR with the following specific markers linked to the apomixis sequence genomic region (ASGR) (Jessup, 2005): PCAB10, Q8H and UGT197 (Table 2)
Summary
Cattle production in northwestern Argentina (NOA) is essentially pastoral, and subtropical and tropical perennial grasses are the main cultivated forage resources. Bashaw (1962) identified a source of sexuality, an off-type plant, product of a mutation that showed poor forage aptitude (Griffa et al, 2005), significant susceptibility to salt stress (Griffa, 2010; Lanza Castelli et al, 2010) and little genetic contribution for apomictic F1s of agronomic interest (Griffa et al, 2005) Using this source of sexuality, we have obtained several apomictic F1s, one of them, named Lucero INTA-PEMAN, with superior forage characteristics compared to its parents, while the remaining hybrids obtained showed marked phenotypic similarity to the female parent (Griffa, 2002; Griffa et al, 2005). The aim of this study was to obtain and characterize new and improved sexual genotypes to be used as female parents in conventional crosses in buffel grass
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