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A GENECOLOGICAL STUDY OF PUCCINELLIA MARITIMA HUDS. (PARL.) I. VARIATION ESTIMATED FROM SINGLE‐PLANT SAMPLES FROM BRITISH POPULATIONS
Author(s) -
GRAY A. J.,
SCOTT R.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
new phytologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.742
H-Index - 244
eISSN - 1469-8137
pISSN - 0028-646X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8137.1980.tb04451.x
Subject(s) - biology , heritability , habit , salt marsh , agronomy , botany , ecology , psychology , genetics , psychotherapist
SUMMARY By means of a replicated clone trial of 56 plants taken at random from six geographical regions a preliminary assessment was made of variation in Puccinellia maritima (Huds.) Parl., the predominant grass species on British salt marshes. We found significant differences between genotypes in the mean values for 19 morphological and flowering characters. The variation between genotypes was further examined using a correlation matrix of these values (plus seed weight). The first three principal components extracted from the matrix defined variation trends in vegetative biotype, yield, and reproductive strategy respectively. Graphic representations revealed that variation on the vegetative biotype component, a measure of tillering rate, overall plant leaf size, and the tendency to produce either a few large or many small tillers, was associated with variation in growth habit (erectness) and that genotypes originally collected from grazed salt marshes tended to be fast‐tillering, small, short‐leaved, and prostrate. Variation in yield (dry‐matter production) appeared to be related to the soil nutrient status of the site of collection, the relatively high yielding genotypes generally coming from mature marshes at higher elevations. There is no evidence of an effect of grazing on the reproductive strategy component, which measured the relative allocation of resources to flowering or vegetative tillers, but, probably through its association with date of ear emergence, variation on this component had an apparently regional basis. Estimates of genetic coefficients of variation and heritability suggested that much of the variation was genetically controlled and indicated, for example, that date of ear emergence was genetically more variable and had a higher heritability than date of anthesis. These results indicated that, in future trials, measurement on only three occasions of only eight characters would provide a reasonable estimate of the variation within and between populations of the species.