ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Genetic structure of putative heterotic populations of alfalfa
Paolo Annicchiarico,
Yanling Wei,
Edward Charles Brummer,
Corresponding Author
Paolo Annicchiarico
Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA), Research Centre for Fodder Crops and Dairy Productions, Lodi, Italy
Correspondence
Paolo Annicchiarico, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA), Research Centre for Fodder Crops and Dairy Productions, viale Piacenza 29, 26900, Lodi, Italy.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorYanling Wei
Forage Improvement Division, Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, Ardmore, OK, USA
Search for more papers by this authorEdward Charles Brummer
Forage Improvement Division, Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, Ardmore, OK, USA
Search for more papers by this author
Paolo Annicchiarico,
Yanling Wei,
Edward Charles Brummer,
Corresponding Author
Paolo Annicchiarico
Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA), Research Centre for Fodder Crops and Dairy Productions, Lodi, Italy
Correspondence
Paolo Annicchiarico, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA), Research Centre for Fodder Crops and Dairy Productions, viale Piacenza 29, 26900, Lodi, Italy.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorYanling Wei
Forage Improvement Division, Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, Ardmore, OK, USA
Search for more papers by this authorEdward Charles Brummer
Forage Improvement Division, Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, Ardmore, OK, USA
Search for more papers by this author
Communicated by
Abstract
Semi-hybrids between genetically distant alfalfa (Medicago sativa subsp. sativa) populations may display heterosis whose extent is affected by the structure of genetic diversity across populations. This study aimed to assess the genetic diversity across three putative heterotic populations, one Italian, one Egyptian and one of semi-erect germplasm from Eastern Europe, Canada and Spanish Mielga (EECM population). Each population was bred from ten parents after various selection cycles. Fifteen genotypes per population were characterized by 20 polymorphic SSR markers. The among-population variance was over eightfold smaller than the average within-population variance (2.05 vs. 17.24) and accounted for 10.6% of the total variation. G’ST = .090 across markers indicated modest population differentiation. Various diversity measures, multidimensional scaling, and cluster analysis of the genetic structure indicated that the Italian population was more distant from the EECM population than the Egyptian one. The EECM and Egyptian populations were the most distant geographically and genetically. EECM displayed widest intrapopulation variation, accordingly to its constitutive geographical diversity. In conclusion, this study indicates modest genetic differentiation between alfalfa populations even for geographically distant germplasm.
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