Co-Authors:
Ecker, R., Department of Ornamental Horticulture, Agricultural Research Organization, The Volcani Center, P.O.B. 6, Bet Dagan, Israel
Barzilay, A., Department of Ornamental Horticulture, Agricultural Research Organization, The Volcani Center, P.O.B. 6, Bet Dagan, Israel
Osherenko, E., Department of Ornamental Horticulture, Agricultural Research Organization, The Volcani Center, P.O.B. 6, Bet Dagan, Israel
Abstract:
The genetics of chill‐related seed dormancy, exhibited by a lisianthus (Eustoma grandiflorum) genotype native to North America, was investigated. Less than 1 % of the seeds germinated by direct hydration at 20°C, while full germination (98%) was attained by chilling imbibed seeds, for at least 11 days, at 3°C, before transferring them to 20°C. The inheritance of seed dormancy was analyzed in F1, BC1, and F2, populations, derived from mating between a normal non‐chill‐requiring genotype (P1) and the above chill‐requiring genotype (P2). F1 seeds, of both reciprocals, and BC1 (P1) seeds were all non‐dormant. The proportion of seed dormancy in F2 and BC, (P2) was 0.06 and 0.68, respectively. The inheritance model proposed includes six diallelic loci with cumulative effects, in which the presence of at least nine ‘dormancy‐conferring’ alleles is necessary for inducing phenotypic seed dormancy. Possible implications of inherent seed dormancy on the utilization of native lisianthus germplasm for breeding are discussed. Copyright © 1994, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved