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General And Specific Combining Ability Of Five Alfalfa Clones Including Reciprocal Effects For Seedling Vigor And Seed Yield, Edwin Theodore Bingham

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The use of F₁ hybrids for commercial production of such cross-pollinated crops as corn, sorghum, sugar beets, onions, and pearl millet suggests the feasibility of using this technique for alfalfa. Production of F₁ hybrids of commercial value is dependent on the use of breeding material expressing good combining ability. In order to obtain precise estimates of combining ability for quantitative characters in alfalfa, it is necessary to produce all possible single crosses among a number of parents. The single cross seed required is difficult to obtain due to the vegetative reproduction and isolation required; and, subsequently, limited testing …