Selection of Hybrid Plants from Cross Populations of Chinese Chives (Allium tuberosum SPR.) by RAPD Marker

Since Chinese chives (Allium tuberosum SPR.) have the ability to undergo facultative apomixis, the frequency of hybrids is remarkably low and has been an obstacle in cross-breeding programs. In order to improve breeding efficiency, we introduced the technique of selecting the F1 hybrid plant using the RAPD marker. Furthermore, in our investigation of simple DNA extraction methods we found that a modified SDS-method was ideal. RAPD marker selection was performed on 2673 individuals from 22 cross-breeding combinations carried out between 1997 and 2003, and it was found that 304 were F1 hybrids. This gives us an average crossing rate of 11.4% over a distribution of 0~25.8%, allowing us to select for them during the seedling stage and successfully reduce the number of transplants to 1/10th.