Selection for low oxalic acid content on three Setaria sphacelata segregating populations

摘要

Setaria sphacelata is a cross‐pollinated forage grass species, mostly used in Brazilian pastures with poorly drained soils.Its best known cultivars ( Nandi, Narok and Kazungula) reveal different flowering cycles as well as variable morpho‐ agronomic, forage and seed traits ( Hacker, 1991 ; Jank et al., 2007).Though presenting good nutritive values, all of them cause nutritional problems to animals, mostly due to the presence of high oxalic acid contents in the forage ( Schenk et al., 1982).The main aim of this research work has been to identify low oxalic acid individuals in three sub‐populations ( derived from the cultivars above cited) and try to correlate chosen agronomic (plant height, tiller number and flowering cycle) and seed traits (overall seed yield, seed physical purity and number of pure seeds/gram) to the desired character.In case of any success, the development of new low‐oxalic acid cultivars would become faster and easier.