Track 4-1-4: Biotechnological Approaches to Improve Range, Pasture and Forage Species
Description
Brachiaria grass (Brachiaria spp.) is one of most important tropical forage grass which belongs to family Poaceae, subfamily Panicoideae, tribe Paniceae, genus Brachiaria. Brachiaria grass has attracted attention because of a leading ‘Green Revolution’ over tens of millions of hectares in the Central Brazilian Cerrado in the 1970s. Breeding programs for Brachiaria grass have been conducted mainly by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA). Careful and effective recurrent selection of tetraploid sexual lines for vigor, growth habit, leafiness, and spittlebug resistance have spawned several successful hybrid cultivars: ‘Mulato’, ‘Mulato II’, and ‘Caiman’ (Miles et al., 2004). Research activities on tetraploid sexual lines of Brachiaria spp. (Ishigaki et al., 2010) have been also continued in tropical and subtropical Japan and Southeast Asia. Our recent breeding program for Brachiaria spp. has also got underway in the tropical monsoon region, particularly areas of Indo-China. Marker-assisted selection (MAS) for breeding population has been previously done with some important crops and forages. Apomixis is one of important trait for breeding, which can lead eternal asexual propagation through seed. Previous report (Ebina et al., 2005) revealed that the apomixis co-segregated marker could assist breeding selection.
In this paper, we report a new candidate cultivar ‘Br-203’ bracharia grass crossed with a sexual maternal tetraploid parent of ‘Miyaokikoku’ and an apomixis paternal tetraploid parent of ‘Mulato’. After pre-selection by MAS for apomixis trait in Japan, effective and compact breeding populations have been transferred to Department of Livestock Development (DLD) Thailand. Major agronomical traits selections have been successfully performed in Thailand. The result shows the combination of MAS and conventional breeding method is a powerful and effective way of breeding of a new apomixis bracharia grass cultivar.
Included in
A New Candidate Cultivar of Brachiaria Grass 'Br-203' Developed with Apomixis Marker Assisted Selection, through a Collaborative Breeding Activity of Thailand and Japan
Brachiaria grass (Brachiaria spp.) is one of most important tropical forage grass which belongs to family Poaceae, subfamily Panicoideae, tribe Paniceae, genus Brachiaria. Brachiaria grass has attracted attention because of a leading ‘Green Revolution’ over tens of millions of hectares in the Central Brazilian Cerrado in the 1970s. Breeding programs for Brachiaria grass have been conducted mainly by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA). Careful and effective recurrent selection of tetraploid sexual lines for vigor, growth habit, leafiness, and spittlebug resistance have spawned several successful hybrid cultivars: ‘Mulato’, ‘Mulato II’, and ‘Caiman’ (Miles et al., 2004). Research activities on tetraploid sexual lines of Brachiaria spp. (Ishigaki et al., 2010) have been also continued in tropical and subtropical Japan and Southeast Asia. Our recent breeding program for Brachiaria spp. has also got underway in the tropical monsoon region, particularly areas of Indo-China. Marker-assisted selection (MAS) for breeding population has been previously done with some important crops and forages. Apomixis is one of important trait for breeding, which can lead eternal asexual propagation through seed. Previous report (Ebina et al., 2005) revealed that the apomixis co-segregated marker could assist breeding selection.
In this paper, we report a new candidate cultivar ‘Br-203’ bracharia grass crossed with a sexual maternal tetraploid parent of ‘Miyaokikoku’ and an apomixis paternal tetraploid parent of ‘Mulato’. After pre-selection by MAS for apomixis trait in Japan, effective and compact breeding populations have been transferred to Department of Livestock Development (DLD) Thailand. Major agronomical traits selections have been successfully performed in Thailand. The result shows the combination of MAS and conventional breeding method is a powerful and effective way of breeding of a new apomixis bracharia grass cultivar.
