Volume 37, 182-186

Tropical Grasslands (2003) Volume 37, 182–186

Ergot resistance in plants of Paspalum dilatatum incorporated by hybridisation with Paspalum urvillei

G.E. SCHRAUF¹, M.A. BLANCO¹, P.S. CORNAGLIA¹, V.A. DEREGIBUS¹, M. MADIA¹, M.G. PACHECO¹, J. PADILLA¹, A.M. GARCÍA² and C. QUARÍN³

¹ Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
² CIGEN & IFSC-UNLP, Llavallol, Argentina
³ Instituto de Botánica del Nordeste, Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, UNNE-CONICET, Corrientes, Argentina

Abstract

Interspecific hybridisation and backcrossing were used in an attempt to transfer the ergot resistance of Paspalum urvillei (vaseygrass) into a sexual biotype of P. dilatatum (dallisgrass). Progenies and backcrosses from these interspecific hybrids were compared with sexual plants of P. dilatatum and with plants of P. urvillei in terms of ergot resistance and seed production. Resistance to ergot infections of P. urvillei was transferred to several plants in the backcrosses, showing that hybridisation between both species provides a new approach to obtain ergot resistance and improve seed production of dallisgrass.