Author
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Fery, Richard |
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Submitted to: HortScience
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: 2/2/1997 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: The development of southernpea (Vigna unguiculata) cultivars with a persistent green seed color has been the subject of much interest for more than two decades because seeds of such cultivars can potentially be harvested at the near-dry seed stage of maturity without loss of their fresh green color. The success of the cream-type cultivar Bettergreen, which is homozygous for the gc gene conditioning green cotyledons, demonstrated that the development of cultivars with persistent green seed color is feasible. In 1990, an effort was initiated to develop a pinkeye-type southernpea cultivar homozygous for the gc gene. The pinkeye is the major cultivar class of southernpea utilized for processing in the United States. Seeds containing embryos homozygous for the gc gene are easily identified, and this ability to select in the seed stage greatly facilitated the rapid development of advanced breeding lines. More than two dozen advanced generation pinkeye lines with green cotyledons were ready for preliminary field testing in 1995, and seven were selected for detailed evaluation in 1996. Results of the 1996 tests indicate that the gc gene has been successfully incorporated into elite pinkeye germplasm. |
