Author
|
Submitted to: American Society of Agronomy
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: 11/9/1998 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: Medicago ruthenica (L.) Ledebour is adapted to poor soil and extreme cold and Medicago edgeworthii Sirjaev to alpine regions of southeast China. Genes from these species could improve stress tolerance in cultivated alfalfa (M. sativa L.). The U.S. Medicago collection was deficient in these species, thus we collected seeds from 105 accessions of M. ruthenica in Inner Mongolia and from 32 accessions of M. edgeworthii in alpine regions of the Yunnan Province of China. We evaluated genetic diversity in 17 M.edgeworthii accessions and 19 M. ruthenica accessions using RAPD and Anchored Microsatellite Priming analyses. Based on cluster analyses, both species were genetically distant from alfalfa checks and from each other. Considerable genetic diversity was noted within each collection, and accessions from a particular collection site tended to cluster together. We conclude that there is considerable opportunity for selection within the collections, but that interspecific crosses between alfalfa and either species may require specialized methods. |
