Valutazione di progenie da libera impollinazione per la produzione del seme in Lolium perenne L.

In order to increase seed yielding ability in the "Vejo" variety of Lolium perenne a breeding program has been going on at Plant Breeding Institute of University of Perugia since 1976. Results of the first cycle of phenotypical selection were reported by Ceccarelli et al., 1981. In this paper we show results concerning offspring of 97 genotypes of mother plants utilized for phenotypical selection. Data indicate high variability for all the characteristics examined (heading time, culm height, seed yield, 1000-seed weight and dry matter yield). Narrow sense heritability of each characteristic, except dry matter yield, was calculated by the mother-offspring regression coefficients; high values were obtained for heading time and seed yield, very low for culm height. The comparison between offspring means of phenotypically selected plants and the best offspring ones shows that the methods give same results, from the selection point of view, only when we take into account the high heritability characteristics.