RATE AND INHERITANCE OF CROSS-FERTILIZATION IN FABA BEAN (VICIA-FABA L)

To assess the feasibility for synthetic varieties of Vicia faba L., 108 faba bean genotypes were screened for cross-fertilization rate in five field experiments carried out in 1989 and 1990 at Wageningen. Significant genotypic differences were observed for outcrossing rate, which ranged from 1 to 55%. These percentages, however, are thought to be not high enough for a commercially feasible production of synthetic varieties. The inheritance of cross-fertilization rate, determined by testing the F4 generation of a cross between two inbreds, both with high outcrossing rates, appeared to be of a polygenic nature, as was indicated by the wide variation in, and the continuous distribution of, the cross-fertilization rates. Among the F4 lines tested some had a significantly higher cross-fertilization rate than the parents. However, this difference was not found when these lines were retested, indicating that possibilities for successful selection for higher outcrossing rates might be limited.