effects of self and cross pollination on morphological and agronomic traits in orchad grass

this study was conducted to evaluate the effect of mandatory of self-fertilization on morphological and agronomic traits of orchad grass. three populations including self-fertilization, open pollination and parental genotypes (each consisted of 25 genotype of orchad grass) were evaluated using a split plot experiment according to a randomized complete block design. significant differences were found among populations for day to ear emergence, day to pollination, spread, fresh yield, dry matter yield, plant height, leaf to stem ratio and percentages of dry matter yield. for most of the traits, means of self-pollinated population was less than parents and open pollinated population. forage yield of self-population was 44% less than parents indicating the probably of inbreeding depression. however, days to ear emergence and days to pollination in self population was higher than parental genotype. negative correlation was found between forage yield with day to ear emergence and day to pollination. biplot of principle component analysis clearly differentiate three populations confirmed by cluster analysis. in conclusion, the result showed that orchad grass has ability for self-fertilization and therefor it is possible to develop inbred line from this plant in future breeding programs.