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Inbreeding depression and heterosis in autotetraploids with application to Medicago sativa L.

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Abstract

Inbreeding depression observed in Medicago sativa L. is greater in the early generations of self-fertilization than is expected for an autotetraploid based upon the coefficient of inbreeding (F). Forage yield often is reduced by 30 percent or more after one generation of selfing, while F is only one-sixth, α=0. A high frequency of loci containing 3 or 4 different alleles is postulated as a basis for this rapid loss of vigor. A formula is developed that permits computation of the proportions of loci with 1, 2, 3 and 4 different alleles, along with estimates of additive and non-additive values of genes.

Forage yield data for backcross and sib-mated populations indicate that quantitative characters are inherited tetrasomically.

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Authors
  1. Thad H. Busbice
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  2. C. P. Wilsie
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Additional information

Journal Paper No. J-5190 of the Iowa Agricultural and Home Economics Experiment Station. Project 1048.

Graduate Assistant and Professor of Agronomy, Department of Agronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.

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Busbice, T.H., Wilsie, C.P. Inbreeding depression and heterosis in autotetraploids with application to Medicago sativa L.. Euphytica 15, 52–67 (1966). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00024079

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00024079

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