HETEROSIS IN CHICKPEA FOR GRAIN PRODUCTIVITY IN EMBU COUNTY, KENYA

Chickpea is a major source of proteins especially in arid and semi-arid areas of Kenya. However, its average yield per hectare is low when compared to neighbouring countries. This research was carried out to determine the levels of hybrid vigour on yield in the F1 generation. To obtain the F1s, reciprocal crossing between Mwanza 2 and Chaina I was carried out with controls being the parental lines. The experimental layout was a randomized block design replicated thrice for three seasons. A spacing of 50x20cm was used in plants, while all other agronomic practices were maintained constant. Data on grain yield and biomass per plant was obtained by measuring the weight, then subjecting it to a one-way ANOVA in SAS 9.4 software. Mwanza 2 expressed the highest biomass (2.56g), while both parents attained a maximum grain yield of 1.69g per plant. Chaina I x Mwanza 2 hybrid expressed maximum means of F1s for biomass (2.31g) and grain yield (1.4g) per plant. Chaina I x Mwanza 2 hybrid recorded the highest biomass and grain yield in better parent heterosis with 14.36% and 330% respectively. Mid-parent heterosis means were also highest at 24.53% and 405.88% for biomass and grain yield respectively. Further, the heritability was maximum for biomass under Mwanza 2 x Chaina I, varying from 93.1% to 100%, while Chaina I x Mwanza 2, expressed maximum grain yield and harvest index. Better parent heterosis and mid-parent heterosis was highest in Chaina I x Mwanza 2 than its reciprocal, Mwanza 2 x Chaina I.

Selection as the main direction of scientific studies and main steps of selection and breeding work in Ukraine (a review)

Objective: For a long time, selection, as a science, has been dealing with the creation of varieties and hybrids of agricultural plants, animal breeds, microorganism strains and studying the methods of all of the above. At the same time, like any component of science, it has its own directions of development, and improves them in time. Therefore, the purpose of this work was to investigate the historical development of selection as a science, to analyze the current state, and to characterize the application of basic breeding methods in aquaculture in Ukraine. Findings: The author of the work reviewed and analyzed professional scientific literature on the development of selection as one of the methods of scientific studies. In particular, the historical aspects of the development of selection in crop production and animal husbandry, including fish farming, have been considered, and its main directions have been highlighted. A promising method for the development of synthetic selection was proposed: reciprocal crossing, and the current state of selection and breeding work in fish farming was described. Practical value: The review of literature sources can be useful for the preparation of lecture material during the training process for training specialists in the specialty 207 "Aquatic Bioresources and Aquaculture", including specialists in ichthyology, veterinary medicine, zoology. Key words: Breeding, genetics, breeding, breed, intrabreed type.

Gene Expression Variation Explains Maize Seed Germination Heterosis

BackgroundHeterosis has been extensively utilization in plant breeding, however, the underlying molecular mechanism remain largely elusive. Maize (Zea mays), which exhibits strong heterosis, is an ideal material for studying heterosis.ResultsIn this study, there is a faster imbibition and development in reciprocal crossing Zhengdan958 hybrids than in their parent lines during seed germination. To investigate the mechanism of heterosis of maize germination, comparative transcriptomic analyses was conducted between reciprocal crossing hybrids and their parental lines. The gene expression patterns showed that 1324 (47.27%) and 1592 (66.44%) of the different expression genes between hybrids and either parental line display parental dominance up or higher levels in Zhengdan958 and Zhengdan958 reciprocal-cross, respectively. Notably, these genes were mainly enriched in metabolic pathways, including carbon metabolism, glycolysis/gluconeogenesis, protein processing in endoplasmic reticulum, etc.ConclusionOur results provide evidence for the higher expression level genes in hybrid involved in metabolic pathways acting as main contributors to maize seed germinating heterosis. These findings provide new insights into the gene expression variation of maize embryo and improve the understanding of maize seed germination heterosis.

Creation of a new breeding material for creeping clover (Trifolium repens L.) hay-pasture type using the hybridization method

The studies were carried out in the Moscow region in 2019-2021. In order to create a new breeding material for creeping hay-pasture clover, samples of the Lodian type (giganteum variety), characterized by high peduncles and longer leaf petioles, and a low content of hydrocyanic acid (0.3 mg%), were selected as parental forms. Reciprocal crossing was carried out. Hybrids F1 and F2 in the first year of life were assessed by the main economic and biological characteristics: the length of the peduncles, the number of inflorescences on the plant, fodder and seed productivity, early maturity, winter hardiness and other indicators. Based on the assessment results, the best hybrids and individual biotypes were identified.

PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT OF CROSSES BETWEEN GADAM AND HARDCORE TANNIN SORGHUM IN HYBRID LINES PRODUCTION

Gadam cultivar of sorghum has been characterized by low yields compared to the international yield levels of sorghum. In this research, Gadam was crossed with Serena, Seredo, and Kari/Mtama-1 in an attempt to increase yield through heterosis. The objective of this study was to determine the level of compatibility and heterosis in crosses between Gadam and the three sorghum lines in a reciprocal crossing. Gadam was crossed with the three lines and their reciprocals to make six treatments that were subjected to compatibility and heterosis tests. The F1 hybrid lines and their parental controls were sown in a randomized complete block design in three replicates. Compatibility and heterosis data variances were analyzed using R statistical software. The cross between Gadam x Serena, Serena x Gadam and the parent Gadam exhibited moderate mean plant height ranging from 99.5 cm to 120.5 cm. The cross Gadam x Serena recorded a desirable negative mid-parent heterosis of -19.89 and -16.16 for plant height and days to maturity respectively. All F1 hybrids recorded positive mid-parent heterosis for the panicle length, the number of reproductive tillers, a thousand seed weight, and the number of tillers per plant. The crosses Gadam x Seredo, Seredo x Gadam, Gadam x Serena and Kari/Mtama-1 x Gadam recorded significantly lower grain filling percentages compared to their parents. In conclusion, the F1 hybrids differed significantly from their reciprocal crosses especially in days of heading, flowering, and maturity indicating a significant maternal influence in these traits. Also, the mid-parent and better parent heterosis had a nonsignificant difference in quantitative traits assessed except for the plant height and grain filling percentage.

PENGARUH TETUA BETINA PADA BEBERAPA KARAKTER TANAMAN JAGUNG (Zea Mays L)

ABSTRACTCorn plants are one of the most important food crops after rice and wheat. To get high corn production factors that can affect one of them is the use of high yielding varieties. In superior varieties there are genes that can make plant growth and production be higher than other varieties. In plant breeding programs to obtain a superior variety, it is necessary to know important information about the influence of the female parent. In general, some characters are controlled by genes in the nucleus, but there are some characters that are controlled by genes in cytoplasmic organelles. The characters controlled by genes in cytoplasmic organelles can be identified by reciprocal crossing. Faculty of Agriculture, University of Borneo Tarakan has a collection of S4 corn (selfing 4) that can be used as genetic material in plant breeding programs. Therefore, research needs to be done to find out the important characters that are controlled by genes outside the nucleus or the influence of female elders. the second results of crossing of maize plants (G2G1 and G4G3 with each reciprocal) showed that in vegetative and generative parameters there were female elders. In the same vegetative character in the two crossing of maize plants which showed the presence of female elders namely plant height, number of leaves and stem diameter. Whereas the same generative characters are the age of flowering females, the number of cob, the location of the cobs, the length of the cobs, the weight of the cobs, the weight of 100 seeds and the weight of the seeds per cob. In addition, it is known that corn plant genotypes show higher F1 mean results as female parents in maize crop crossing on several yield characters (generative), namely genotypes G2 and G4.Keywords: Cytoplasmic Genes, Corn, Effect of Female Elders, Reciprocal Crosses ABSTRAK Tanaman jagung merupakan salah satu tanaman pangan yang terpenting setelah padi dan gandum.. Untuk mendapatkan produksi jagung yang tinggi faktor yang dapat mempengaruhi salah satunya adalah penggunaan varietas unggul. Pada varietas unggul terdapat gen yang dapat membuat pertumbuhan dan produksi tanaman menjadi lebih tinggi dari varietas yang lain. Dalam program pemuliaan tanaman untuk mendapatkan suatu varietas yang unggul perlu mengeketahui informasi penting tentang pengaruh tetua betina. Pada umumnya beberapa karakter dikendalikan oleh gen dalam kromosan inti, akan tetapi terdapat beberapa karakter yang dikendalikan oleh gen yang ada di organel sitoplasma. Karakter yang dikendalikan oleh gen di organel sitoplasma dapat diketahui dengan melakukan persilangan resiprokal. Fakultas Pertanian Universitas Borneo Tarakan memiliki koleksi jagung S4 (selfing ke 4) yang dapat digunakan sebagai bahan genetik dalam upaya program pemuliaan tanaman. Maka dari itu, perlu dilakukan penelitian untuk mengetahui karakter-karakter penting yang dikendalikan oleh gen di luar inti atau pengaruh tetua betina. hasil kedua persilangan tanaman jagung (G2G1 dan G4G3 dengan masing – masing resiproknya) menunjukkan pada parameter vegetatif dan generatif terdapat adanya tetua betina. Pada karakter vegetatif yang sama pada kedua persilangan tanaman jagungyang menunjukkan adanya tetua betina yaitu tinggi tanaman, jumlah daun dan diameter batang. Sedangkan pada karakter generatif yang sama yaitu umur berbunga betina, jumlah tongkol, letak tongkol, panjang tongkol, berat tongkol, berat 100 biji dan berat biji per tongkol. Selain itu, diketahui genotipe tanaman jagung yang menunjukkan hasil nilai rerata F1 yang lebih tinggi sebagai tetua betina pada persilangan tanaman jagung pada beberapa karakter hasil (generatif) yaitu genotipe G2 dan G4. Kata kunci : Gen Sitoplasma, Jagung, Pengaruh Tetua Betina, Persilangan Resiprok

Restoring Fertility for Novel Interspecific Hybrids between Kalanchoe garambiensis and K. nyikae Using Colchicine Treatment

Interspecific hybridization is an effective strategy in Kalanchoe breeding programs for the introduction of new traits. Wild species within the Kalanchoe genus are valuable genetic resources for providing new horticulture traits and to improve environmental adaptations. However, reproductive barriers associated with fertilization and hybrid sterility must be overcome to produce fertile hybrid progenies. To approach the breeding objectives for Kalanchoe cut flower cultivars with long stem traits and adaptation to tropical/subtropical regions, a tropical species endemic to Taiwan, Kalanchoe garambiensis Kudo, was used as a parent to cross with other long stem Kalanchoe species. Reciprocal crossing was effective in overcoming interspecific unilateral incompatibility in our crossed pairs. One superior hybrid, ‘103-1’, produced capsules without seeds by selfing and backcrossing with pollens from either parent. Other than the seedless trait, failure of pollen releasing from anther, pollen aggregation and no pollen germination in ‘103-1’ suggested its F1 sterility. Colchicine treatments on apical buds of ‘103-1’ successfully overcame potential meiotic abnormalities by doubling ploidy. For the first time, fertile interspecific hybrids of K. garambiensis and K. nyikae Engler were generated. The fertile hybrid has further produced progeny populations by crossing with K. nyikae or K. blossfeldiana von Poelln, ‘Ida’.

Comparative Growth Performance of Papaya Hybrids and their Parents under Reciprocal Crossing System

Papaya is a very popular fruit in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world and has witnessed an increase in demand. This has fuelled an interest to develop region specific hybrids with desirable vegetative growth and vigour. Hence a field experiment was carried out at College of horticulture and forestry, Navsari Agricultural University in Gujarat during 2018-2020 in randomized block design with three replications to know the mean performance of parents and hybrids for comparative growth performances of papaya. Wherein, thirty papaya hybrids were developed from six morphologically distinct parents through full diallel crossing technique and all the parents and hybrids were evaluated for their germination and growth parameters. The variability was distinct in all hybrids and parents for germination percentage, days taken to germination, periodical plant height and girth, number of leaves, petiole length and internodal distance. Amongst all the parents, Pusa Delicious, CO-8 and Lucknow Local exhibited improved germination, better vegetative growth and dwarf stature, respectively. Among the hybrids, Pusa Delicious x Lucknow Local was found to have dwarf stature with minimum internodal length however, the reciprocal cross: Lucknow Local x Pusa Delicious recorded maximum plant girth and number of leaves. Based on their mean performance, these parents can be used for further breeding programmes and hybrids could be exploited for cultivation.

Intraspecific Hybrids Versus Purebred: A Study of Hatchery-Reared Populations of Sterlet Acipenser ruthenus

Hatchery-reared sterlet originating from the Danube and Volga river basins that showed population-discriminatory alleles on at least one microsatellite locus were used to produce purebred (within-population) and hybrid crosses to evaluate intraspecific hybridization with respect to the genetic polymorphism and physiological fitness of fish for commercial aquaculture and, conservation programs. Reciprocal crossing assessed the effect of parent position. The fish were reared in indoor and outdoor tanks and monitored over 504 days for growth traits. The highest final mean body weight (144.9 ± 59.5 g) was recorded in the Danube (♀) × Volga (♂) hybrid and the highest survival in the Volga (♀) × Danube (♂) hybrid. The Volga purebred exhibited the lowest mean body weight (124.8 ± 57.6 g). A set of six microsatellites was used to evaluate the heterozygosity. The mean number of alleles was highest in the Danube (♀) × Volga (♂) hybrid and lowest in the Volga purebred, suggesting an influence of the parent position in the hybridization matrix. The higher level of genetic polymorphism, as in the Danube (♀) × Volga (♂) hybrid, may confer greater fitness in a novel environment. Our analysis revealed that the intraspecific hybrids performed better than the purebred fish in the controlled and suboptimal rearing conditions.