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Acta Prataculturae Sinica ›› 2020, Vol. 29 ›› Issue (7): 99-111.DOI: 10.11686/cyxb2019454

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The relationship between endogenous hormone content and apomixis rate of wild Kentucky bluegrass in Gansu Province

LIU Yan, YU Mei-ling, ZHANG Ran, NIU Kui-ju, LI Yu-zhu, ZHANG Jin-qing, MA Hui-ling*   

  1. College of Pratacultural Science, Gansu Agricultural University, Key Laboratory of Grassland Ecosystem, Ministry of Education Pratacultural Engineering Laboratory of Gansu Province, Sino-U. S. Centers for Grazing Land Ecosystem Sustainability, Lanzhou 730070, China
  • Received:2019-10-23 Revised:2019-12-09 Online:2020-07-20 Published:2020-07-20

Abstract: To investigate the relationship between apomixis rate and endogenous hormone levels in Kentucky bluegrass, eight wild Kentucky bluegrass strains with different apomixis rates, collected in Gansu Province, were studied. Fresh spikelets were harvested at different development stages, and the contents of zeatin (ZT), indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), trans-zeatin-riboside (ZR), gibberellin (GA3) and abscisic acid (ABA) were determined, and the relationship between apomixis development and endogenous hormone levels analyzed. It was found that: ZT and ZR contents showed a downward trend during early spikelet development, and were lowest 2 days after heading, then ZT content gradually increased and ZR content began to decline after peaking at flowering stage. GA3 and IAA showed a trend of first increasing and then declining, but GA3 content reached a peak 2 days after heading, while IAA content was highest during the flowering stage. In addition, during the early stages of spikelet development, there was no significant change in ABA levels in genotypes with low apomixis (Gannan, Qingshui, Sunan and Lanzhou), but showed a decreasing trend in highly-apomictic genotypes (Longxi, Qinzhou, Dingxi and Longnan). However, ABA levels sharply increased from flowering to milk ripening, and then decreased sharply in two genotypes. Correlation analysis showed that the apomixis rate was positively correlated with ZT, ZR, ABA, (ZT+ZR)/IAA and (ZT+ZR)/ABA; negatively correlated with GA3, IAA/ABA and GA3/ABA; but failed to correlate with IAA. Therefore, high ZT, ZR and low ABA contents, (ZT+ZR)/IAA and (ZT+ZR)/ABA ratio are associated with promotion of apomictic ovule development, while high GA3 content appears to promote ovule development by the sexual pathway.

Key words: Kentucky bluegrass, high performance liquid phase, apomixis, endogenous hormone