Description
A selection method was tested for improving nitrogen use efficiency of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) using a hydroponics system that controls the plant nitrogen concentration. Divergent selection for plant production, leaf area increase and dry matter distribution in six segregating populations under limiting nitrogen supply resulted in differences between offspring of upward and downward selections larger than 20 % in most characteristics. Moderately high realized heritabilities were found for some characteristics (up to 0.88). It is concluded that early selection for nitrogen use efficiency is feasible using this hydroponics system.
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Selection for Nitrogen Use Efficiency in Perennial Ryegrass using Hydroponics
A selection method was tested for improving nitrogen use efficiency of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) using a hydroponics system that controls the plant nitrogen concentration. Divergent selection for plant production, leaf area increase and dry matter distribution in six segregating populations under limiting nitrogen supply resulted in differences between offspring of upward and downward selections larger than 20 % in most characteristics. Moderately high realized heritabilities were found for some characteristics (up to 0.88). It is concluded that early selection for nitrogen use efficiency is feasible using this hydroponics system.
