Variation of cultivated flax (Linum usitatissimum L. subsp.usitatissimum) and its wild progenitor pale flax (subsp.angustifolium (Huds.) Thell.)

Abstract

Variation of cultivated flax (Linum usitatissimum L. subsp, usitatissimum) and its wild progenitor pale flax (subsp. angustifolium (Huds.) Thell.) AbstractThe domestication of cultivated flax (Linum usitatissimum L. subsp, usitatissimum) is briefly discussed.Using data documented as a matter of routine in genebank work, 63 accessions of cultivated flax from the flax germplasm collection of the Gatersleben Genebank are compared with 73 accessions of its wild progenitor pale flax (subsp. angustifolium (Huds.) Thell.), which have been observed in systematic field trials. Range of variation, genetically based variation, heritability and correlation of several characters are considered, especially with respect to the influence of domestication.Cultivated flax shows higher variation in the characters of generative plant parts, while pale flax varies more in the vegetative parts of the plant.The character correlations are similar in both subspecies. Of the 29 characters studied in pale flax the parameters describing tillering, height of plant, weight of seeds, width of petals and width of leaves are especially suitable for distinguishing between different accessions. In spite of the high heritabilities of most of the characters, the influence of the environment is significant in most cases.

Phenotypic and Molecular (RAPD) Differentiation of Four Infraspecific Groups of Cultivated Flax (Linum usitatissimum L. subsp. usitatissimum)

“…Such modification when categorizing the PGRC collection seemed justified, because the growing season at Saskatoon is about 30 days shorter than at Gatersleben, which did not allow all genotypes to realise their genetic potential for seed size. The grand average over 5 years for 1000 seed weight at Saskatoon was 5.9 g (n=3089) while at Gatersleben the grand mean observed on a random selection of flax accessions (n=63) from 26 botanical varieties over 5 years was 6.3 g (Diederichsen and Hammer 1995). Kulpa and Danert (1962) reported 1000 seed weights of more than 11.5 g in many accessions grown at Gatersleben, while such a seed weight was the absolute maximum observed during the 5 years at Saskatoon.…”

Oil Crop Breeding and Genetics

“…It has been under discussion whether oil or fibre was the primary reason of domestication, and whether domestication took place once or happened several times in independent domestication events in different diversity regions of flax (Diederichsen and Hammer 1995). New evidence from network analysis of genetic diversity in the stearic acid desaturase locus sad2 suggests a single domestication event of cultivated flax from its wild progenitor Linum angustifolium Huds.…”

Pedigrees and genetic base of flax cultivars registered in Canada

“…is the wild progenitor of cultivated flax (Diederichsen and Hammer 1995;Fu and Peterson 2010). Pale flax and cultivated flax share the same chromosome number (n = 15) and their crosses generate fully fertile offspring, thus, it represents cultivated flax's primary gene pool (Diederichsen 2007).…”