OFF-TYPES INDICATE NATURAL OUTCROSSING IN 5 TROPICAL FORAGE LEGUMES IN COLOMBIA

Flower colour has been used as a simple morphological marker for genet ic studies in many species, including legumes. In several tropical for age legumes, grown to evaluate their environmental adaptation or for s eed increase, white-flowered plants were observed when the predominant flower colour was either yellow (Chamaecrista rotundifolia) or pink, lilac or purple (Centrosema virginianum, Codariocalyx gyroides, Desmod ium heterocarpon and Galactia striata). Open pollination of these 5 sp ecies took place each at one of 4 sites in Colombia. Progeny from whit e-flowered plants were examined for flower colour to assess the propor tion of off-types. This ranged on average from 4% for D. heterocarpon, through 13% for both G. striata and Ch. rotundifolia, and 18% for Ce. virginianum, to 23% for Co. gyroides. Large differences were recorded among accessions of the same species, particularly in Ce. virginianum , where 4 of the accessions apparently produced autogamous offspring a nd the other 5 had high proportions of off-types, with a rate as high as 89%. Consequences of these results for germplasm collection, manage ment and seed increase are discussed.