Genetic Maps of Diploid Orchardgrass (\u3cem\u3eDactylis glomerata\u3c/em\u3e L.)

Orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.) is indigenous to Eurasia and northern Africa. It has been naturalized on nearly every continent and is one of the top four economically important perennial forage grasses grown worldwide (Stewart and Ellison 2010). It has been used widely as forage due to its quality, biomass production and good shade tolerance. Despite its various agricultural uses, little information is available for functional and comparative genetic analysis and concomitant genetic improvement of this species. To date, a number of linkage maps have been constructed for forage grasses such as perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) (Jones et al. 2002), tall fescue (Lolium arundinaceum (Schreb.) Darbysh.) (Saha et al. 2005), and Zoysiagrass (Zoysia japonica) (Cai et al. 2005). Until recently, there have been no reports of genetic linkage studies in orchardgrass. In the present study, a genetic linkage map of diploid orchardgrass based on two-way pseudo-testcross mapping strategy was constructed using SRAP and SSR markers. This is the first step towards genomic mapping for this species