PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Qiu, Yinjie
AU  - Hamernick, Sierra
AU  - Ortiz, Joan Barreto
AU  - Watkins, Eric
TI  - DNA Content and Ploidy Estimation of <em>Festuca ovina</em> Accessions by Flow Cytometry
AID  - 10.1101/2020.02.06.938100
DP  - 2020 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2020.02.06.938100
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/02/07/2020.02.06.938100.1.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/02/07/2020.02.06.938100.1.full
AB  - Festuca ovina is a fine fescue that is used as a low-input turfgrass. The ploidy levels of F. ovina accessions held by the USDA National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS) are unknown, limiting the use of the germplasm in breeding programs. The objective of this study was to determine DNA content and estimate ploidy of these 127 accessions. Among the accessions, we identified a wide range of ploidy levels from diploid to octoploid. We also found the accessions with higher ploidy levels usually had larger seed size. These results will be informative to plant breeders and researchers using germplasm from the F. ovina collection and point to challenges in maintaining polyploid, outcrossing germplasm seed stocks in common nurseries.