Influence of Pollen Dispersal and Mating Pattern in Domestication of Intermediate Wheatgrass, a Novel Perennial Food Crop.

ABSTRACT: Intermediate wheatgrass (IWG) is a perennial forage grass that is currently being domesticated as a grain crop. It is a primarily wind-pollinated outcrossing species and expresses severe inbreeding depression when self-pollinated. Characterization of pollen dispersal, mating parameters, and change in genetic diversity due to pollen movement is currently lacking in IWG. In this study, we examined pollen dispersal in an IWG selection nursery by evaluating 846 progeny from 15 mother plants and traced their parentage to 374 fathers. A set of 2,500 genomic loci was used to characterize the population. We assigned paternity to 769 (91%) progeny and the average number of fathers per mother plant was 37, from an average of 56 progeny examined per mother. An extensive number (80%) of pollination ev

SUBMITTER: Bajgain P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9096613 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature