Publication Date
1989
Description
In Medicago genus, the importance of gametes with unreduced chromosome number (2n gametes) has been stressed both in the evolution (Stanford et al., 1972) and breeding (Bingham, 1968) of cultivated alfalfa, wich is a cross-fertilizing natural polysomic polyploid (Medicago sativa L., 2n = 4x = 32). In this species heterozygosity can be maximized but not fixed by the usual methods of cultivar development (Dubier and Bingham, 1975). As an alternative to normal sexual reproduction, hybridization of 2n gametes from diploid hybrids can transmit, through bilateral sexual polyploidization, a large part of the heterozygosity of the diploid parents to the tetraploid offsprings (McCoy and Rowe, 1986). The main objective of the present research was to identify genotypes able to produce high frequencies of male and female 2n gametes in natural diploid populations belonging to the Medicago sativa-coerulea-falcata complex.
Citation
Veronesi, F; Mariani, A; and Tavoletti, S, "2N Gamete Producer in Diploid Species of Genus Medicago" (2025). IGC Proceedings (1989-2023). 31.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc/1989/session3/31
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2N Gamete Producer in Diploid Species of Genus Medicago
In Medicago genus, the importance of gametes with unreduced chromosome number (2n gametes) has been stressed both in the evolution (Stanford et al., 1972) and breeding (Bingham, 1968) of cultivated alfalfa, wich is a cross-fertilizing natural polysomic polyploid (Medicago sativa L., 2n = 4x = 32). In this species heterozygosity can be maximized but not fixed by the usual methods of cultivar development (Dubier and Bingham, 1975). As an alternative to normal sexual reproduction, hybridization of 2n gametes from diploid hybrids can transmit, through bilateral sexual polyploidization, a large part of the heterozygosity of the diploid parents to the tetraploid offsprings (McCoy and Rowe, 1986). The main objective of the present research was to identify genotypes able to produce high frequencies of male and female 2n gametes in natural diploid populations belonging to the Medicago sativa-coerulea-falcata complex.