Genetic and phenotypic diversity for drought tolerance in perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.)

Abstract

Perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) is a widely grown species in temperate regions as forage grass as well as for recreational and bioenergy production purposes. Information on perennial ryegrass genetic background facilitates breeding programs by providing an assessment of genetic diversity in exotic material. Genetic diversity of 104 genotypes of perennial ryegrass was evaluated using phenotypic drought traits and amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) data. A high variation was observed for the drought tolerance traits. Chlorophyll fluorescence (F v /F m ) explained 88.8% of the whole variation observed in the collection, while re-growth accounted for 9.1% of all variation. A principal component analysis on the basis of phenotypic drought tolerance traits classified perennial ryegrass collection into three clusters. Three AFLP primer pairs produced a total of 210 fragments, 202 of which were polymorphic among all accessions. The genetic diversity of the collection was high with an average similarity coefficient of 0.46 and the average polymorphic information content of 0.29. The principal component analysis based on AFLP data did not cluster genotypes into any major group. A total of six AFLP fragments, identified as being prevalent in drought tolerant genotypes, together with the high degree of genetic homogeneity found, could provide a choice of selecting genotypes from this perennial ryegrass collection for a drought tolerance breeding program.

LpBRI1 polymorphism association with flag leaf architecture in perennial ryegrass

“…Association mapping panel consisting of 44 cultivars of both turf and forage type and 52 natural ecotypes used in this study revealed high variability for phenotypic traits as could be expected for genotypes of such a diverse origin (Jonavičienė et al, 2014). High heritabilities were observed for the studied seed yield traits (Table 1), even though previous study of Casler et al (1996) stated that the seed yield appears to be a moderately heritable trait.…”

Phenotyping a Dynamic Trait: Leaf Growth of Perennial Ryegrass Under Water Limiting Conditions

“…Finally, five different perennial ryegrass genotypes were used to assess the utility of the phenotyping platform and the Tri-phase function to uncover genotypic differences. Each of the five genotypes, selected from an association mapping panel established to study abiotic stress and plant architecture (Jonavičienė et al, 2014; Aleliūnas et al, 2015; Statkevičiūtė et al, 2015), was represented with four clonal replicates. The results of a , σ, and Σ are shown in Figure 5D–F, respectively.…”

Genome-Wide Association Study to Identify Candidate Loci for Biomass Formation Under Water Deficit in Perennial Ryegrass

“…A perennial ryegrass association panel consisting of 197 genotypes was used throughout the water deficit experiments. The panel was chosen on the basis of earlier experiments for drought ( Jonavičienė et al, 2014 ) and freezing tolerance ( Aleliūnas et al, 2015 ), where results revealed a high genotypic diversity among the panel individuals as well as a high phenotypic variability for drought-related traits. Most of the cultivars were of European origin, except one genotype coming from Japan, one genotype from New Zealand and six genotypes from the United States.…”