THE DEVELOPMENT OF SELF-POLLINATED INBRED LINES OF MEADOWFOAM BY DIRECT SELECTION IN OPEN-POLLINATED POPULATIONS

Limnanthes alba Benth. (meadowfoam) is an allogamous insect-pollinated oilseed crop. Poor pollination and pollinator costs have purportedly limited the commercial production of this crop. Production costs can b e reduced and seed yields might be increased by using self-pollinated cultivars. Such cultivars have not been developed for this crop, howev er. Our objective was to develop self-pollinated inbred lines by direc tly selecting for self-pollination in open-pollinated meadowfoam popul ations. A total of 520 S-0 progeny From 26 L. alba accessions were scr eened for self-pollination in the field under reduced pollinator loads . Sixteen L. alba var. versicolor S-0 progeny produced seed in a high percentage of flowers, whereas the other 504 progeny produced seed in a small percentage of flowers. A total of 288 S-0 progeny Com six L. a lba var. versicolor accessions were screened for seeds per plant in a pollinator-free greenhouse. Forty-nine of these progeny produced 5 to 48 seeds per plant by self-pollination. S-3 lines were developed by se lecting for seeds per plant (in the absence of pollinators) among OMF- 63, OMF-64,and OMF-66 S-0, S-1, and S-2 progeny using single-seed desc ent. OMF-63, OMF-64 and OMF-66 S-3 and OMF-64 S-5 produced significant ly more seeds per plant and seeds per bower by self-pollination than M ermaid, an open-pollinated L. alba var. alba cultivar. OMF-63, OMF-64, and OMF-66 S-3 produced 26.3 to 30.1 seeds per plant and 0.97 to 0.99 seeds per power, whereas Mermaid produced 3.0 seeds per plant and 0.1 4 seeds per flower. OMF-64 S-5 lines produced 41.0 to 72.3 seeds per p lant and 1.26 to 2.07 seeds per newer, whereas Mermaid produced 2.9 se eds per plant and 0.12 seeds per newer. These self-pollinated inbred l ines should be useful for developing elite self-pollinated meadowfoam cultivars.