EFFECTS OF SELECTION FOR FOLIAGE COLOR ON THE SEED AND FORAGE YIELD OF ALTAI WILD RYEGRASS

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Abstract
Selection for green, blue and bluegreen foliage color in Altai wild ryegrass [Leymus angustus (Trin.) Pilger], an autoalloploid species with 2n = 84, through six cycles of selection resulted in three divergent populations. The blue and green foliage populations were breeding true for foliage color by the fourth cycle of selection. Results from a seeded progeny test indicated a significant positive relationship between blue foliage color and increased seed yield and between blue foliage color and increased dry matter yield in years of relatively good moisture. Conversely, the green foliage color was negatively associated with both seed yield and dry matter yield. It is suggested that selection for blue foliage color would be useful in breeding higher seed and dry matter yielding strains and that ignoring foliage color would be preferable to selection for green foliage color.Key words: Foliage color, Leymus angustus, selection, seed yield, dry matter yield, ryegrass (wild)