Submitted to: Association for the Advancement of Industrial Crops Conference
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: February 5, 1997
Publication Date: N/A
Technical Abstract: Environmental effects on guayule genotypes were investigated in this study. Estimates of environmental effects were determined by comparing plants generated from tissue culture with plants from the same line, generated from open-pollinated seed. Within the tissue cultured lines, all variation of measured plant traits was attributed to be genetically identical. Differences within the seed generated lines gives a measure of the genetic variation within a line, when the environmental component is deleted. Three facultative apomictic and one sexual reproducing breeding lines were used for this study. A single plant of each of the four lines was cloned by tissue cultured to produce approximately 200 plants of each line. Simultaneously, seed from plants of the same line were planted in the greenhouse. After establishment, tissue cultured and seed-grown plants were field transplanted in a randomized complete block design at the University of Arizona, Maricopa Agricultural Center, April, 1995. Rows were one meter apart, with 36 cm between plants. The experimental lines in this study included G7-11, N7-11, P2-bulk, and 36- 2-42. When plants were two years-old, plant heights, plant fresh and dry weight, rubber, resin, and latex contents were measured. Plants were harvested beginning on March 10 and completed on March 27, 1997. Tissue cultured lines had lower standard errors for plant heights than the seed grown plants. Higher variation was measured in latex content. This information provides an estimate of the heritability of the measured traits. This helps to determine the amount of genetic improvements is being made through plant breeding.