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The General Combining Ability of Orchardgrass Selections and Their I4 Progenies 1
Author(s) -
Hanson A. A.,
Myers W. M.,
Garber R. J.
Publication year - 1952
Publication title -
agronomy journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.752
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1435-0645
pISSN - 0002-1962
DOI - 10.2134/agronj1952.00021962004400020007x
Subject(s) - forage , citation , division (mathematics) , library science , computer science , mathematics , biology , agronomy , arithmetic
THE suggestion has been advanced on a number of occasions that selection within selfed lines followed by hybridization may offer possibilities for improvement of the naturally cross-pollinated forage crops (4, 9). On the other hand, some evidence has been offered to support the contention that selection in open pollinated material may be equally effective for yield (3, 10). The difficulties in an inbreeding program may be readily appreciated when one considers the many problems that are involved in the production of improved grass strains. These problems include: (a) the high degree of selfsterility of most forage grasses which obviously hinders the development of an effective inbreeding program, (b) the difficulty of isolating a sufficient number of inbred lines to make the program feasible, and (c) the possible occurrence of a variable amount of selfing when the inbred lines are spatially isolated for intercrossing. Experimental evidence provided by several investigators (1, 7) indicates that in spite of the high degree of selfsterility, selfed lines can be isolated in a number of the forage grasses, including orchardgrass, timothy, bromegrass,