Introgression mapping for genes of abiotic stress resistance in Lolium multiflorum and Festuca pratensis

Festuca pratensis was used as a source of genes for drought resistance and freezing tolerance for transfer in introgression breeding programmes to high quality Lolium multiflorum cultivars. Triploid (2n = 3x = 21) hybrids – L. multiflorum (4x) × F. pratensis (2x) were backcrossed twice to diploid (2n = 2x = 14) cultivars of L. multiflorum. BC2 plants were pre-selected in natural field conditions and screened by GISH. Nine diploid introgression lines of L. multiflorum each with a single F. pratensis chromosome segment were tested for freezing tolerance. Three freezing tolerant BC2 plants, each with a single Festuca chromosome segment at a different location, were used in a further backcross to produce the BC3 generation. One hundred and thirty plants from two of the BC3 populations were tested for freezing tolerance, and 30 plants of another population for drought resistance. Among the more stress resistant genotypes, plants with a single Festuca introgression and also other plants with no introgression detectable by this technique were found. The preliminary results of introgression mapping for drought resistance and freezing tolerance in BC2/BC3 populations are presented