Publication Date
1993
Description
The annual medics are endemic to the Mediterranean region. There are 34 recognised species of annual medics and 3159 accessions in the US Plant Introduction collection. Although there is interest in the annual medics for use in sustainable agricultural systems, the US collection is underutilised owing to a lack of agronomic information. Development of a core collection may be a method of condensing the collection of agronomic data on the available germplasm to make it more accessible for utilisation by breeders and agronomists. A core germplasm collection is a small collection that represents the maximum genetic diversity with minimum repetitiveness. During the summer of 1990 we grew 1220 accessions of the annual medics in the field at Beltsville, MD and evaluated them for 15 morphological and agronomic traits. Accessions were selected for the core collection using cluster analysis (an unweighted pair group method using arithmetic averages). The resultant group of 211 accessions contains all 34 species and has one accession per cluster within a species. Tht" core collection was further evaluated in 1991 and 1992 in 5 locations (Beltsville, MD; Logan, UT; Pullman, WA; St, Paul, MN; Tucson, AZ) to determine if there are genotype x environmental interactions and to allow researchers and interested individuals an opportunity to observe the annual medics.
Citation
Bauchan, G R.; Diwan, N; and McIntosh, M, "Development and Evaluation of a core Germplasm Collection of annual Medicago species in the United States" (2024). IGC Proceedings (1993-2023). 10.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc/1993/session10/10
Included in
Agricultural Science Commons, Agronomy and Crop Sciences Commons, Plant Biology Commons, Plant Pathology Commons, Soil Science Commons, Weed Science Commons
Development and Evaluation of a core Germplasm Collection of annual Medicago species in the United States
The annual medics are endemic to the Mediterranean region. There are 34 recognised species of annual medics and 3159 accessions in the US Plant Introduction collection. Although there is interest in the annual medics for use in sustainable agricultural systems, the US collection is underutilised owing to a lack of agronomic information. Development of a core collection may be a method of condensing the collection of agronomic data on the available germplasm to make it more accessible for utilisation by breeders and agronomists. A core germplasm collection is a small collection that represents the maximum genetic diversity with minimum repetitiveness. During the summer of 1990 we grew 1220 accessions of the annual medics in the field at Beltsville, MD and evaluated them for 15 morphological and agronomic traits. Accessions were selected for the core collection using cluster analysis (an unweighted pair group method using arithmetic averages). The resultant group of 211 accessions contains all 34 species and has one accession per cluster within a species. Tht" core collection was further evaluated in 1991 and 1992 in 5 locations (Beltsville, MD; Logan, UT; Pullman, WA; St, Paul, MN; Tucson, AZ) to determine if there are genotype x environmental interactions and to allow researchers and interested individuals an opportunity to observe the annual medics.
