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- Author or Editor: Vincent R. Pantalone x
Consumer interest in Edamame (edible soybean) is increasing due to reported health benefits associated with diets high in soy. The purpose of this study was to compare four varieties of edible soybean grown at four plant spacings on three planting dates. The lines were grown at the Plateau Research and Education Center in Crossville, Tenn. They were analyzed for horticultural traits and isoflavone content. All lines were at the R6 stage. Fresh weight of pods, weight of 200 pods per plot, the number of seeds per 200 pods, and the weight of 100 seeds were recorded from two-row plots (6.10 m x 1.52 m). A significant (P < 0.001) difference was found for fresh weight among planting dates. The May planting had the highest mean fresh weight (3118 g/plot), followed by the June (3068 g/plot) and July (2131 g/plot) dates. The weight per 100 seeds was significantly different (P < 0.001) for planting date and genotype. May seed weight was highest at 49 g, followed by June at 45 g, and July at 42 g per 100 seeds. `Gardensoy-43' was the highest-yielding variety, with a mean of 3253 g/plot. It was followed by `TN00-60' and `TN03-349', with mean fresh weights of 2730 and 2723 g/plot, respectively. The line `TN5601T' had the lowest mean fresh weight of 2389 g/plot. Both fresh weight (P < 0.001) and weight per 100 seeds (P < 0.05) were significantly different among plant spacings. Twenty-six plants per meter within rows yielded the highest total fresh weight per plot (3071 g), but had the lowest mean weight per 100 seeds (43 g). Spacing three plants per meter within rows resulted in the highest weight per 100 seeds (48 g), but the lowest fresh weight per plot (2122 g). Isoflavone content will be measured for each variety, planting date, and spacing.
Flowering (Cornus florida L.) and kousa (C. kousa Hance) dogwoods are ornamental trees valued for their four-season appeal, but also for their importance to retail and wholesale nurseries. The popularity of kousa dogwood has increased in recent years as a result of its resistance to dogwood anthracnose and powdery mildew as compared with flowering dogwood, which is typically susceptible to those diseases. This range of resistance allows the development of intra- and interspecific cultivars with multiple disease resistance or a combination of disease resistance and specific ornamental traits. Breeding requires controlled crosses that are usually done manually, which is a labor-intensive process. Cornus florida and C. kousa have generally been found to be self-incompatible allowing for the breeding process to be made more efficient by not having to emasculate flowers. We have capitalized on the natural ability of honeybees and the self-incompatible nature of dogwood to perform self- and crosspollinations of flowering and kousa dogwood. Self-pollinations were conducted in 2006 and 2007 with C. florida ‘Appalachian Spring’ and ‘Cherokee Brave’ and with C. kousa ‘Blue Shadow’ and Galilean®. The flowering dogwood self-pollinations resulted in no seed production, whereas the kousa dogwood self-pollinations resulted in low seed production, indicating self-incompatibility. Intra- and interspecific crosses of flowering and kousa dogwood cultivars and breeding lines were conducted in 2006 to 2008. Honeybees were effective in facilitating seed production for all intraspecific crosses conducted. Seedling phenotypes of putative intra- and interspecific hybrids are similar and practically indistinguishable, so dogwood-specific simple sequence repeats were used to verify a sample of the putative hybrids. The results demonstrated that honeybees were effective in performing controlled pollinations and that honeybee-mediated pollinations provide an alternative to time-consuming hand pollinations for flowering and kousa dogwood.
Cross-species transferability of simple sequence repeats (SSRs) is common and allows SSRs isolated from one species to be applied to closely related species, increasing the use of previously isolated SSRs. The genus Cornus consists of 58 species that are ecologically and economically important. SSRs have previously been isolated from C. florida and C. kousa. In this study, 36 SSRs were tested on taxa from 18 Cornus species and hybrids for cross-species transferability and genetic diversity was calculated for each locus using polymorphism information content (PIC). Cross-species transferability of SSR loci was higher in more closely related species and PIC values were high. Evidence was found for conserved primer sites as determined by the amplification of SSR loci in the taxa examined. Polymerase chain reaction products were cloned and sequenced for three SSR loci (CF48, CF59, and CF124) and all individuals sequenced contained the appropriate repeat. Phylogenetic relationships of 14 Cornus species were inferred using nucleotide sequences of SSR locus CF48. The most parsimonious tree resulting from this analysis was in concordance with phylogenies based on matK and internal transcribed spacer sequences. The SSR loci tested in this study will be useful in future breeding, population, and genetic studies within Cornus.
Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) and kousa dogwood (C. kousa) are popular ornamental species commonly used in the horticultural industry. Both trees are valued for their beautiful floral display and four-season appeal. Species-specific simple sequence repeat (SSR) loci were used to genotype and assess genetic diversity of 24 flowering dogwood cultivars and breeding lines and 22 kousa dogwood cultivars. Genetic diversity was determined by allele sharing distances and principal coordinate analysis and was high in both species. Molecular identification keys were developed for cultivars and breeding lines of each species using a few polymorphic SSRs loci (four in C. florida and five in C. kousa). Most (18 of 24) of the flowering dogwood and all (22 of 22) kousa dogwood accessions could be distinguished from each other using these SSRs; those that could not were resolved using DNA amplification fingerprinting. The reliability of both keys was assessed using five anonymous cultivars for each dogwood species, which were correctly identified using the molecular keys. The genetic information presented here will be useful for identification and verification of cultivars for nurseries and as molecular markers for breeders and researchers.