U.S. flagAn official website of the United States government
                    Here's how you know **Official websites use .gov**
                            
                            A **.gov** website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
 **Secure .gov websites use HTTPS**
                            
                            A **lock** (                            
                              A locked padlock                                                      
                            
                            ) or **https://** means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


Menu Agricultural Research Service
						
                    U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
 Forage and Range Research: Logan, UT
 close



    Research

                    Research Projects
                                    Publications
                                    Collaborations
                                    News
                People

                    Staff Listing
                                    CareersSearch small
                    Search
            
            ARS Home
                                About ARS
                                Contact Us




ARS Home Pacific West Area Logan, Utah Forage and Range Research Research Publications at this Location





- ARS National Programs
- Search for a scientific manuscript
- Search for a research project
- ARS Software
- Programs and Projects
- Collaborations
- Subjects of Investigation
- Publications
- Germplasm Releases
- Area Wide Project
- Alfalfa Research
- Collection Trips
- Micro Fungi Image Gallery
- Mojave Project
- Orchardgrass Collaborations
- Working Groups
- Utah Shrubland Mgmt Project

Title:   Author  item
                                            Robins, Josephitem
                                            Riday, Heathcliffeitem
                                            HELLAND, SARA - PIONEER HIBREDitem
                                            BRUMMER, E - IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
  Submitted to: Iowa Academy of Science
                                    Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
                                    Publication Acceptance Date: 9/10/2005
                                    Publication  Date: 3/15/2006
                                    Citation: Robins, J.G., Riday, H., Helland, S.J., Brummer, E.C. 2006. Biomass yield stability in alfalfa. Iowa Academy of Science 111:71-75Interpretive Summary: It is important that alfalfa cultivars not only have high forage yield, but that they also have stable forage yield across diverse environmental conditions.  This study analyzed the basis of yield stability in ten commercial alfalfa cultivars evaluated at five sites over two years.  Different measures of yield stability were calculated for the mean performance of each cultivar and also for the mean performance of each of the component genotypes of the cultivars.  The result was a comparison between the different measure and also the determination of individual genotype performance to the overall yield stability of the cultivars.  In addition, recommendations are made concerning the preferred type of stability measure for breeding purposes.
                                Technical Abstract: In addition to biomass production, alfalfa cultivars also need to express yield stability across diverse environments.  The objective of this experiment was to analyze the nature of biomass yield stability in ten commercial alfalfa cultivars by evaluating performance of individual genotypes.  Biomass yield was measured in each of five environments across two years, and the yield stability computed for the overall cultivar mean performance and the mean performance of each of the genotypes comprising the cultivars using the genotype x environment variance statistic of Shukla and the superiority statistic of Lin and Binns'.  The GxE variance of the cultivars was not correlated with the mean GxE variance of the genotypes comprising the cultivar.  However, a strong positive correlation was observed between the superiority value of the cultivar as a whole and the mean superiority value of its genotypes.  Alfalfa cultivars can be stable, as measured by the GxE variance, without being composed of stable genotypes.  However, cultivars identified as superior only result if the individual genotypes are also superior.  The top 10% of individual genotypes selected based on GxE variance do not include any genotypes with high yield.  However, truncation based on the superiority statistic selected seven of the ten top yielding genotypes.  It appears that for an applied breeding program selection based on the superiority statistic would have a greater chance of improving yield and yield stability concurrently.


Return to top


Connect with ARS Sign up


ARS Home
                            USDA.gov
                            Plain Writing
                            Policies & Links
                            Civil Rights Statements
                            FOIA
                            Accessibility Statement
                            Privacy Policy
                            Non-Discrimination Statement
                            Quality of Information
                            USA.gov
                            WhiteHouse.gov