Molecular markers enhance substantially the distinctness of alfalfa varieties for registration and protection.

ABSTRACT: Plant varieties must satisfy distinctness, uniformity, and stability (DUS) requirements for registration. Morphophysiological trait-based distinctness may be challenging for cultivars of major perennial forages. Our study focused on alfalfa (Medicago sativa L. subsp. sativa) with the aims of (a) comparing morphophysiological distinctness with molecular distinctness based on genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) or the alfalfa DArTag panel, envisaging different statistical criteria for molecular distinctness, and (b) assessing the consistency of morphophysiological and molecular cultivar diversity. The 18 most grown Italian varieties were jointly reevaluated morphophysiologically and were characterized molecularly using three bulked DNA samples of 200 independent genotypes per cultivar. Morphophys

SUBMITTER: Annicchiarico P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11795343 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature