The potential for diploidizing Lolium multiflorum × L. perenne tetraploids

Abstract

The possibility of diploidizing meiosis in tetraploid hybrids of the two closely related Lolium species, L. multiflorum and L. perenne, was investigated using specific genotypes of both parents. Both these parental genotypes had previously been shown to reduce homoeologous pairing in a separate but wider cross with the inbreeder L. temulentum. A preponderance of bivalents was recorded at first metaphase of meiosis in several of the hybrid progeny with the frequency of multivalents being reduced to 0.6/pollen mother cell in one plant. Although it is not unambiguously established that the bivalents so formed are solely between homologous chromosomes, it is highly likely that this is so. It is concluded that it is feasible to genetically modify the pattern of meiosis even in tetraploid hybrids of species of similar karyotypes.Key words: chromosome pairing, Lolium, interspecific hybrid.