Inheritance of Taxonomic Traits and AFLP Markers In Natural Interspecific Hybrids of Festuca Idahoensis and Festuca Ovina.

This project was carried out to detect how phenotypic traits and AFLP markers of interspecific hybrids from Festuca idahoensis and F. ovina are inherited. Seed was obtained from an open-pollinated crossing block of parents selected for fertility after several cycles of recurrent selection and 261 cross progenies were planted in Hyde Park, UT. Seven F. idahoensis and three F. ovina were used as controls. Plant growth vigor, total biomass, plant height, width, re-growth, 100 seed weight, and seed production were evaluated in 2010. AFLP was also used to compare genetic relatedness at the molecular level. Based on ANOVA, there was a significant (P<0.0001) difference among progenies on all phenotypic traits. Correlation analysis indicated that vigor was significantly correlated (P<0.0001) with plant height (r²= 0.91), width (r²= 0.83), and total biomass (r²= 0.89). None of the seeds from the progeny germinated compared with the control entries (germ. rate= 67%). Additionally, the principal component analysis on data from phenotypic traits demonstrated that most of the cross-progenies were grouped together while the controls were unique morphologically. The Neighbor joining tree from AFLP data also showed the interspecific nature of this population and controls were grouped together while all entries were in a separate group.