Genomic Prediction of Biomass Yield in Two Selection Cycles of a Tetraploid Alfalfa Breeding Population.

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is a widely planted perennial forage legume grown throughout temperate and dry subtropical regions in the world. Long breeding cycles limit genetic improvement of alfalfa, particularly for complex traits such as biomass yield.

Molecular physiology and breeding at the crossroads of cold hardiness improvement.

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is a major forage legume grown extensively worldwide with important agronomic and environmental attributes. Insufficient cold hardiness is a major impediment to its reliable production in northern climates.

Intron-length polymorphism identifies a Y2K4 dehydrin variant linked to superior freezing tolerance in alfalfa.

Breeding alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) with superior freezing tolerance could be accelerated by the identification of molecular markers associated to that trait. Dehydrins are a group of highly hydrophilic proteins that have been related to low temperature tolerance.

SRAP polymorphisms associated with superior freezing tolerance in alfalfa (Medicago sativa spp. sativa).

Sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) analysis was used to uncover genetic polymorphisms among alfalfa populations recurrently selected for superior tolerance to freezing (TF populations). Bulk DNA samples (45 plants/bulk) from each of the cultivar Apica (ATF0), and populations ATF2, ATF4, ATF5, and ATF6 were evaluated with 42 different SRAP primer pairs. Several polymorphisms that progressively intensified or decreased with the number of recurrent cycles were identified.

Dehydrin variants associated with superior freezing tolerance in alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.).

A cDNA (msaCIG) encoding a cold-inducible Y(2)K(4) dehydrin in alfalfa (Medicago sativa spp. sativa) was shown to share extensive homology with sequences from other species and subspecies of Medicago. Differences were mainly the result of the occurrence of large indels, amino acids substitutions/deletions and sequence duplications.

Oxygen deficiency affects carbohydrate reserves in overwintering forage crops.

Anaerobic conditions developing under an ice cover affect winter survival and spring regrowth of economically important perennial crops. The objective was to compare, during a prolonged period of low (<2%) O2 at low temperature, the concentration of carbohydrates of four plant species contrasting in their resistance to oxygen deficiency. Four perennial forage species, lucerne (Medicago sativa L.