Characterization and pre-breeding of diverse alfalfa wild relatives originating from drought-stressed environments

Humphries A.W. Ovalle C. Hughes S. del Pozo A. Inostroza L. Barahona V. Yu L. Yerzhanova S. Rowe T. Hill J. Meiirman G. Abayev S. Brummer E.C. Peck D.M. Toktarbekova S. Kalibayev B. Espinoza S. Ivelic-Saez J. Bingham E. Small E. Kilian B.
January/February 2021 John Wiley and Sons Inc

Crop Science
2021 #61 Issue 1 69 - 88 pp.

Changing climates and associated increased variability pose risks to alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) cultivation, with the requirement to establish, survive, and maintain production under water stress. Crop wild relatives (CWR) of alfalfa include populations that have evolved to survive in a number of different, extreme environments, but until recently have had limited use in breeding programs. Here we report on the phenotypic diversity of alfalfa crop wild relatives that were selected to represent extremes in drought tolerance (by sourcing germplasm from environments with extremes in low rainfall, high temperature, shallow soils, and winter freezing) with the aim of providing germplasm with drought tolerance and improved forage yield traits for breeding programs in both warm and cool dry temperate environments. Newly formed hybrids created between M. sativa, M. arborea L. (a woody shrub), and M. truncatula Gaertn. (an annual species from the Mediterranean region) were developed or acquired to introduce new genetic diversity from the tertiary genepool. Preliminary characterization and evaluation was used for taxonomic classification, and to identify wild accessions and pre-bred (hybrid) lines that offer new diversity for growth habit, seed size, fall dormancy, and forage yield. The accessions and pre-breeding lines described have been donated to the Australian Pastures Genebank for conservation and distribution.

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Australian Pastures Genebank, South Australian Research and Development Institute, Urrbrae, 5064, SA, Australia
Centro Experimental Cauquenes, Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias, Cauquenes, 3690000, Chile
Faculty of Agriculture Science, University of Talca, Talca, 3460000, Chile
Grasslands Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hohhot, 010001, China
Department of Fodder and Oilseeds, Kazakhstan Research Institute for Agriculture and Plant Growing, Almaty, 040909, Kazakhstan
Department of Plant Science, University of California, Davis, 95616, CA, United States
Department of Agronomy, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 53706, WI, United States
Science and Technology Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food, Ottawa, K1A 0C6, ON, Canada
Crop Trust, Bonn, 53113, Germany

Australian Pastures Genebank
Centro Experimental Cauquenes
Faculty of Agriculture Science
Grasslands Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Department of Fodder and Oilseeds
Department of Plant Science
Department of Agronomy
Science and Technology Branch
Crop Trust

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