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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 48(4)

Tolerance of aluminium toxicity in annual Medicago species and lucerne

B. J. Scott A B C H , M. A. Ewing A D , R. Williams A E F , A. W. Humphries A G and N. E. Coombes B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A CRC for Plant-based Management of Dryland Salinity, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.

B NSW Department of Primary Industries, Agricultural Institute, PMB, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2650, Australia.

C Present address: EH Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation (NSW Department of Primary Industries and Charles Sturt University), Faculty of Science and Agriculture, School of Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences, Charles Sturt University, Locked Bag 588, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2678, Australia.

D Western Australian Department of Agriculture and Food, South Perth, WA 6151, Australia.

E NSW Department of Primary Industries Tamworth Centre for Crop Improvement, 4 Marsden Park Road, Calala, NSW 2340, Australia;

F Present address: Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, Leslie Research Centre, PO Box 2282, Toowoomba, Qld 4350, Australia.

G South Australian Research and Development Institute, GPO Box 397, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia.

H Corresponding author. Email: bscott@csu.edu.au

Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 48(4) 499-511 https://doi.org/10.1071/EA07137
Submitted: 10 May 2007  Accepted: 21 December 2007   Published: 7 March 2008

Abstract

A rapid (7 day) solution-based screening test was developed using 15 annual Medicago cultivars and one M. sativa. Based on a relative root regrowth after exposures to aluminium (Al), Zodiac (M. murex), Orion (M. sphaerocarpos) and the M. polymorha cultivars Santiago, Cavalier and Serena had the greatest Al tolerance. Herald (M. littoralis) and Rivoli (M. tornata) were most sensitive. Ranking for Al tolerance from the solution culture correlated well (r = 0.80) with ranking for tolerance of the 16 genotypes grown in an acidic soil (unlimed pHCa 4.1). We screened 17 Australian populations of lucerne (M. sativa) using a 24 h ‘pulse’ of 75 µmol/L Al, and a three day ‘recovery’ of 10 µmol/L Al. We identified and recovered plants with a root regrowth of ≥5 mm in all 17 populations with selection intensities of 2 to 4%.

Four of these selected populations (Aurora, UQL-1, A513 and TO2-011) were polycrossed within each population to produce four populations of seed from the cycle 1 selections. The length of root regrowth under Al stress was improved for all four populations of cycle 1 selection (P ≤ 0.001; from 2.6 mm for the original populations to 6.3 mm for the cycle 1 selections). In a subsequent experiment the cycle 2 selections from Aurora, UQL-1 and TO2-011 had significantly greater root regrowth than both the cycle 1 selections (P ≤ 0.001; 8.3 cf. 6.6 mm) and the unselected populations (3.0 mm). The selections from TO2-011 appeared to have greater improvement in the average length of root regrowth after 2 cycles of selection. Selected germplasm was more tolerant than GAAT in our evaluation. Based on estimation of realised heritability, it seemed likely that higher selection intensities would give more rapid improvements in tolerance. Our studies have not investigated the physiological basis of any tolerance of Al which we observed.

Additional keywords: alfalfa.


Acknowledgements

The authors thank Rod Fisher and Shirani Katupitya (NSW DPI, Wagga Wagga) who assisted in the laboratory and glasshouse, and Tim O’Brien (NSW DPI, Tamworth) and Eric Kobelt (South Australian Research and Development Institute, Adelaide) for the production of seed from selected populations. The study was funded by the CRC for Plant-based Management of Dryland Salinity through a project supervised by Geoff Auricht (SARDI) and was supported by NSW DPI and SARDI.


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