Registration of Three Day‐Neutral Vernonia Germplasms

Three vernonia [Vernonia galamensis (Cass.) Less.] hybrid germplasmsWCL-VP1 (Reg. no. GP-9, PI 642418), WCL-VP2 (Reg. no. GP-10, PI 642419), and WCL-VP3 (Reg. no. GP-11, PI 642420) were jointly released by the USDA-ARS, U.S. Arid Land Agricultural Research Center, Maricopa AZ, and The University of Arizona, Agricultural Experiment Station, Tucson, AZ in 2005. The releases were selected for day-neutral flowering and seed yield under long-day conditions and possess crop maturity intervals that make them suitable for production in the continental U.S. (Dierig et al., 1996; Ray and Dierig, 1996). The original parental germplasm for the intraspecific hybrids was obtained in 1990 from Dr. Robert Perdue, formerly USDA-ARS, Beltsville, MD. The maternal parent of all crosses was V. galamensis subsp. galamensis var. petitiana (A. Rich.) M.G. Gilbert, a day-neutral accession collected from Kenya in 1988 at an elevation of 1450 m (Gilbert, 1986). The line was assigned an identifier, Ames 20295, by the National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS) and was tested as A0399. Plants of A0399 varied in height from 0.4 to 0.75 m with a seed weight of 2.2 g per 1000-seeds. This germplasm was highly selfincompatible which allows for cross pollination without emasculation. The pollen parents of all crosses were from three botanical varieties of V. galamensis subsp. galamensis, all with short-day flowering requirements. One accession was V. galamensis subsp. galamensis var. ethiopicaM.G. Gilbert, PI 312852, collected from Haraze Province, Ethiopia in 1966, and tested as A0382. Plants of A0382 varied in height from 0.8 to 1.2 m and had a seed weight of 3.3 g per 1000 seeds. The second pollen parent was from two accessions of V. galamensis subsp. galamensis var. galamensis. One was collected near Samaru, Nigeria at an elevation of 686 m in 1987 (Ames 20276), and tested as A0389, while the other was collected from the Capital District in northern Ghana in 1987 (PI 508535), and tested as A0388. Plants of both accessions varied in height from 0.6 to 0.8 m and produced a seed weight of 2.5.g per 1000 seeds. The third variety used as a pollen parent was an undetermined variety collected from Coast Province, Tanzania in 1986 (Ames 20278), and tested as A0437. Plants of A0437 varied in height from 0.7 to 1.0 m with seeds weighing 3.4 g per1000 seeds. All parents were diploid with a chromosome number of n 5 9 (Thompson et al., 1994a). Hybridswereproduced in 1990 by controlled crosses in greenhouses at theUSDA,ARS,U.S.WaterConservationLaboratory, Phoenix, AZ (Thompson et al., 1994b). In 1991, F1 plants were grown under short-day conditions and evaluated for seed size and flower color. WCL-VP1 resulted from crosses between V. galamensis subsp. galamensis var. petitiana (A0399) 3 V. galamensis subsp. galamensis var. ethiopica (A0382). WCL-VP2 resulted from crosses between V. galamensis subsp. galamensis var. petitiana (A0399) 3 V. galamensis subsp. galamensis var. galamensis (A0388andA0389).WCL-VP3 resulted fromcrosses betweenV.galamensis subsp.galamensisvar.petitiana (A0399)3 V. galamensis subsp. galamensis var. unknown (A0437). The F2 generations were field grown under long-day conditions and evaluated for flower quantity, growth habit, and seed weight at Maricopa, AZ in 1992. Selections from WCLVP1 were tested experimentally as 6A, 12E, 15D, 21J, 26B, 29E, 35C, 36H, and 38A; fromWCL-VP2 as 49B and 49C; and from WCL-VP3 as 64B and 66BK. Fifty-seven percent of WCL-VP1 plants, 64% from WCL-VP2, and 42% from WCLVP3 flowered at 85 DAP, (16 June 1992), while the remaining plants flowered by 115 DAP (16 July 1992). None of the pollen parents flowered under these long-day conditions, while 100% of the maternal parent plants, A0399, flowered by 85 DAP. Early-flowering plants in the three germplasms were selected for the next generation. The average 1000 seed weight for the maternal parent was 1.7 g, and 2.4 g, 2.7 g, and 2.5 g for WCLVP1, WCL-VP2, and WCL-VP3, respectively. The average seed yield for the maternal parent was 179 kg/ha and 199, 329, and 257 kg/ha for WCL-VP1, WCL-VP2, and WCL-VP3, respectively. Oil concentration averaged 350 g kg and C18:1 epoxy fatty acid concentration (vernolic acid) averaged 740 g kg with no significant differences among hybrids, or between the maternal parent and hybrids for these two traits. The quantity of open, closed, and ripe flower heads counted 2 wk before final harvest was also not significantly different among hybrids, or between the maternal parent and hybrids. U.S. Plant Variety Protection will be sought for WCL-VP1, WCL-VP2, andWCL-VP3. The corresponding author should be contacted for all seed requests. No seed will be distributed without written permission for 20 yr from January 2005 by the USDA, ARS and The University of Arizona, at which time seed will also be available from the National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS). Recipients of seed are asked to make appropriate recognition of the germplasm source if it is used in the development of a new cultivar, germplasm, parental line, or genetic stock. Requests from outside the U.S. should be accompanied by the appropriate customs control documents.