Breeding early italian ryegrass ("lolium multiflorum" lam.) for rotation with maizein northwest spain

Abstract

Breeding procedures used for the development of an early Italian ryegrass variety from NorthWest Spain's landraces are described with the objective of a rotation with maize (a frequent Galician practice). Starting with an early Westerwoldicum landrace - whose annual nature and aftermath heading allows for rapid breeding-, two cycles of intrapopulation selection, one of individual selection and another of combined individual/half-sib family selection were applied. Although selected families were less productive than commercial cultivars, their winter vigour was better. Four families were independently selected in two climatically and edaphically different localities, showing a good adaptation to coastal áreas of La Coruña and Pontevedra. The interest of a synthetic experimental cultivar obtained by crossing the best plants from these families is being evaluated.