Abstract
Breeding schemes to improve alfalfa ( Medicago sativa L.) forage quality based on total herbage chemical composition can result in altered morphology. Additionally, cell‐wall composition of plant parts also may be altered. This study investigated the effects of divergent selection for lignin concentration in total herbage of alfalfa on concentration of cell‐wall components and digestibility of stems. Two groups of alfalfa previously derived from herbage‐based selection were studied. Group 1 consisted of six two‐parent Syn‐2 lines randomly selected from ‘Saranac‐AR’ for high (HL) or low (LL) acid‐detergent lignin (ADL) concentration in the total herbage. Group 2 had 11 HL and 13 LL lines produced from crossing pairs of parents of the Group 1 lines. Neutral‐detergent fiber (NDF) concentration in stem bases was 4 and 3% greater in HL lines than in LL lines in Group 1 and 2, respectively. Likewise, herbage NDF concentration was 8% greater in HL than in LL lines of Group 1 and 4% greater in Group 2. There were no differences between divergent lines in NDF concentration of stem tops. Lignin concentration in cell walls of Group 1 was 8 and 6% greater in LL lines than in HL lines in stem tops and stem bases, respectively. In Group 2, the LL lines had 2% greater cell‐wall lignin concentration than HL lines in both stem fractions. Total‐herbage NDF concentration correlated more closely with leaf‐to‐stem ratio of entire plants ( r = − 0.96 and −0.78 for Group 1 and 2, respectively) than with stem length and maturity. Thus, herbage‐based selection for improved nutritive quality of alfalfa results in complex changes in stem cellwall component concentrations in addition to large morphological changes.
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Claims 10
Claim · model-written summary
HL lines had 4% more stem-base NDF than LL lines in Group 1.
- Taxon
- alfalfa
Medicago sativat0 - Material
- HL linese0
- Outcome
- Neutral‐detergent fiber (NDF) concentration in stem basese0
- Direction
- greatere0
- Value
- 4 and 3%e0
- Qualifier
- Group 1e0
- Comparator
- LL linese0
Not reportedTreatment
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Neutral‐detergent fiber (NDF) concentration in stem bases was 4 and 3% greater in HL lines than in LL lines in Group 1 and 2, respectively.”
t0“Alfalfa”
Claim · model-written summary
HL lines had 3% more stem-base NDF than LL lines in Group 2.
- Taxon
- alfalfaMedicago sativat0
- Material
- HL linese0
- Outcome
- Neutral‐detergent fiber (NDF) concentration in stem basese0
- Direction
- greatere0
- Value
- 3%e0
- Qualifier
- Group 1 and 2e0
- Comparator
- LL linese0
Not reportedTreatment
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Neutral‐detergent fiber (NDF) concentration in stem bases was 4 and 3% greater in HL lines than in LL lines in Group 1 and 2, respectively.”
t0“Alfalfa”
Claim · model-written summary
Herbage NDF was 8% greater in HL than LL Group 1 lines.
- Taxon
- alfalfaMedicago sativat0
- Material
- HLe0
- Outcome
- herbage NDF concentratione0
- Direction
- greatere0
- Value
- 8%e0
- Qualifier
- Group 1e0
- Comparator
- LL linese0
Not reportedTreatment
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Likewise, herbage NDF concentration was 8% greater in HL than in LL lines of Group 1 and 4% greater in Group 2.”
t0“Alfalfa”
Claim · model-written summary
Herbage NDF was 4% greater in HL than LL Group 2 lines.
- Taxon
- alfalfaMedicago sativat0
- Material
- HLe0
- Outcome
- herbage NDF concentratione0
- Direction
- greatere0
- Value
- 4%e0
- Qualifier
- Group 2e0
- Comparator
- LL linese0
Not reportedTreatment
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Likewise, herbage NDF concentration was 8% greater in HL than in LL lines of Group 1 and 4% greater in Group 2.”
t0“Alfalfa”
Claim · model-written summary
Stem-top NDF did not differ between divergent lines.
- Taxon
- alfalfaMedicago sativat0
- Outcome
- NDF concentration of stem topse0
- Direction
- no differencese0
- Comparator
- divergent linese0
Not reportedTreatment
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“There were no differences between divergent lines in NDF concentration of stem tops.”
t0“Alfalfa”
Claim · model-written summary
Group 1 LL lines had 8% more cell-wall lignin in stem tops than HL lines.
- Taxon
- alfalfaMedicago sativat0
- Material
- LL linese0
- Organ / stage
- stem topse0
- Outcome
- Lignin concentration in cell wallse0
- Direction
- greatere0
- Value
- 8 and 6%e0
- Comparator
- HL linese0
Not reportedTreatment
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Lignin concentration in cell walls of Group 1 was 8 and 6% greater in LL lines than in HL lines in stem tops and stem bases, respectively.”
t0“Alfalfa”
Claim · model-written summary
Group 1 LL lines had 6% more cell-wall lignin in stem bases than HL lines.
- Taxon
- alfalfaMedicago sativat0
- Material
- LL linese0
- Organ / stage
- stem basese0
- Outcome
- Lignin concentration in cell wallse0
- Direction
- greatere0
- Value
- 6%e0
- Comparator
- HL linese0
Not reportedTreatment
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Lignin concentration in cell walls of Group 1 was 8 and 6% greater in LL lines than in HL lines in stem tops and stem bases, respectively.”
t0“Alfalfa”
Claim · model-written summary
Group 2 LL lines had 2% more cell-wall lignin than HL lines in both stem fractions.
- Taxon
- alfalfaMedicago sativat0
- Material
- LL linese0
- Organ / stage
- both stem fractionse0
- Outcome
- cell‐wall lignin concentratione0
- Direction
- greatere0
- Value
- 2%e0
- Comparator
- HL linese0
Not reportedTreatment
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“In Group 2, the LL lines had 2% greater cell‐wall lignin concentration than HL lines in both stem fractions.”
t0“Alfalfa”
Claim · model-written summary
Total-herbage NDF correlated more closely with leaf-to-stem ratio than with stem length and maturity in Group 1.
- Taxon
- alfalfaMedicago sativat0
- Organ / stage
- leaf‐to‐stem ratioe0
- Outcome
- Total‐herbage NDF concentratione0
- Direction
- more closelye0
- Value
- r = − 0.96e0
- Qualifier
- Group 1e0
- Comparator
- stem length and maturitye0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Total‐herbage NDF concentration correlated more closely with leaf‐to‐stem ratio of entire plants ( r = − 0.96 and −0.78 for Group 1 and 2, respectively) than with stem length and maturity.”
t0“Alfalfa”
Claim · model-written summary
Total-herbage NDF correlated more closely with leaf-to-stem ratio than with stem length and maturity in Group 2.
- Taxon
- alfalfaMedicago sativat0
- Organ / stage
- leaf‐to‐stem ratioe0
- Outcome
- Total‐herbage NDF concentratione0
- Direction
- more closelye0
- Value
- −0.78e0
- Qualifier
- Group 1 and 2e0
- Comparator
- stem length and maturitye0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Total‐herbage NDF concentration correlated more closely with leaf‐to‐stem ratio of entire plants ( r = − 0.96 and −0.78 for Group 1 and 2, respectively) than with stem length and maturity.”
t0“Alfalfa”