Root morphology of alfalfa plant introductions and cultivars

Alfalfa (Medicago spp.) root morphology has a critical role in plant persistence and productivity traits. The objectives of this research were to evaluate root morphological traits for 1067 plant introductions (PIs) from diverse geographic origins and from 110 North American cultivars. All entries w...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Crop science 1998-03, Vol.38 (2), p.497-502
Main Authors: Johnson, L.D, Marquez-Ortiz, J.J, Lamb, J.F.S, Barnes, D.K
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions
Alfalfa
AMELIORATION DES PLANTES
ANATOMIA DE LA PLANTA
ANATOMIE VEGETALE
Biological and medical sciences
Biology
BIOMASA
BIOMASS
BIOMASSE
Botany
Cultivars
DIAMETER
DIAMETRE
DIAMETRO
DORMANCE
DORMANCY
DORMICION
FITOMEJORAMIENTO
Flowers & plants
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Generalities. Genetics. Plant material
GENETIC PARAMETERS
Genetic resources, diversity
Genetics and breeding of economic plants
GERMOPLASMA
GERMPLASM
MEDICAGO
Morphology
PARAMETRE GENETIQUE
PARAMETROS GENETICOS
PERSISTENCE
PESO
PHENOTYPIC VARIATION
PLANT ANATOMY
PLANT BREEDING
Plant material
POIDS
PROCEDENCIA
PROVENANCE
RACINE
RAICES
ROOT SYSTEMS
ROOTS
SISTEMA RADICULAR
SYSTEME RACINAIRE
VARIEDADES
VARIETE
VARIETIES
WEIGHT
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Alfalfa (Medicago spp.) root morphology has a critical role in plant persistence and productivity traits. The objectives of this research were to evaluate root morphological traits for 1067 plant introductions (PIs) from diverse geographic origins and from 110 North American cultivars. All entries were grown in 2-m rows at the University of Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station at Rosemount, MN. Plants from both studies were evaluated during autumn of the establishment year for taproot diameter (TD), lateral root number (LRN), lateral root diameter (LRD), lateral root position (LRP), and fibrous root mass (FRM). Variability was observed among PIs and North American cultivars for all traits. The range for all traits were greater in the PIs than in the cultivars. Discriminant analysis using root morphological traits to generate canonical functions separated PIs assigned to germplasm groups from different geographic origins. Among the PIs, TD and LRD were positively correlated and LRN, LRP, and FRM were negatively correlated with fall dormancy. Discriminant analysis using root traits to generate canonical functions separated the very fall dormant from the non-dormant classes. Semi-dormant classes for cultivars released before 1980 had some overlap, but some individual classes could be distinguished by root traits. Semi-dormant classes for cultivars released after 1979 could not be separated. Fall dormancy was negatively correlated with LRN, LRD, LRP, and FRM for cultivars released before 1980, but FRM was the only root trait correlated with fall dormancy for cultivars released after 1979. Our results suggest that recent plant breeding strategies for semi-dormant alfalfa has influenced the relationship between fall dormancy and root morphology. Variation observed for root morphological traits among all alfalfa entries evaluated indicated that selection for specific root modifications could be effective
ISSN:0011-183X
1435-0653
DOI:10.2135/cropsci1998.0011183X003800020037x