ELECTROPHORETIC IDENTIFICATION OF CROSS-POLLINATED BENTGRASS SPECIES AND CULTIVARS

Analysis of isoenzyme phenotypes as an identification method has been used mainly in apomictic and vegetatively propagated species and/or cu ltivars. This study was conducted to demonstrate an improvement in the use of electrophoresis for cross-pollinated Agrostis cultivar identif ication. A bulk leaf sample extract of approximately 200 seedling plan ts from each of 32 cultivars and/or seed lots from four Agrostis speci es was examined for phosphoglucose isomerase (PGI), triosephosphate is omerase (TPI), glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (GOT), and peroxida se (PRX) isoenzyme activities by starch gel electrophoresis. Isoenzyme activities at PGI-2 region showed the most distinctive polymorphism, and we could identify 24 of 26 tested cultivars (twelve A. palustris s uds, 10 A. capillaris L., one A. castellana Boiss. and Rent., two A. g igantea Roth., and one A. canina L.) based on PGI-2 banding patterns. A. palustris cultivars were separated into four groups by both TPI and GOT banding patterns. Ten cultivars of 8. capillaris L. and one A. ca stellana Boiss. and Reut. were separated into four groups by TPI. Pero xidase banding patterns were predominantly effective for species separ ation only. Our results demonstrated that the electrophoresis techniqu e is a quick, accurate, and repeatable identification method for cross -pollinated Argostis cultivars.