Seedling vigor is a critical trait for successful cover crop varieties. Selection for seed size can impact fall seedling vigor in the cover crop hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth). Fall vigor and seed size measurements from 1239 plants and fall vigor measurements from 13,923 progeny across 25 different growing environments were used to calculate narrow sense heritabilities and identify relationships between variance components of fall vigor and seed size. Standardized parent–progeny heritabilities were estimated across multiple years and environments and used to determine the impact of seed size on offspring fall vigor. A genome‐wide association study for seed size (n = 853, m = 1,010,403, two environments) was conducted to explore genetic determinants associated with this trait. Seed size was influenced by parent genetics and parent growing environments and had a significant impact on the fall vigor of the offspring. The narrow sense heritability of seed size was greater than visual fall vigor scores (0.580 and 0.111, respectively) and was less influenced by genotype‐by‐environment variance. Finally, parental seed size had a strong and consistent genetic correlation to offspring fall vigor relative to direct parental measurements of fall vigor (standardized parent–progeny heritability 0.17 for parent seed size‐progeny fall vigor compared to nearly zero for parent fall vigor_offspring fall vigor). The genome‐wide association study did not find significant loci controlling seed size. The strong correlation between seed size and fall vigor highlights an important consideration for growers since larger seed size may increase fall vigor, thus impacting profitability for producers.

中文翻译：

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种子大小对覆盖作物毛薇 （Vicia villosa Roth） 的秋季幼苗活力有重大影响


幼苗活力是覆盖作物品种成功的关键性状。种子大小的选择会影响覆盖作物毛薇 （Vicia villosa Roth） 的秋季幼苗活力。在 25 种不同的生长环境中，使用 1239 株植物的秋季活力和种子大小测量值以及 13,923 个后代的秋季活力测量值来计算狭义遗传力，并确定秋季活力的方差分量与种子大小之间的关系。在多年和环境下估计标准化的亲本-后代遗传力，并用于确定种子大小对后代秋季活力的影响。对种子大小 （n = 853， m = 1,010,403， 两种环境） 进行了全基因组关联研究，以探索与该性状相关的遗传决定因素。种子大小受亲本遗传学和亲本生长环境的影响，对后代的秋季活力有显着影响。种子大小的狭义遗传力大于视觉下降活力评分 （分别为 0.580 和 0.111），并且受环境差异基因型的影响较小。最后，相对于亲本对秋季活力的直接测量，亲本种子大小与后代秋季活力具有强烈而一致的遗传相关性（亲本种子大小-后代秋季活力的标准化亲本-后代遗传力为 0.17，而亲本秋季活力vigor_offspring秋季活力几乎为零）。全基因组关联研究未发现控制种子大小的显着位点。种子大小和秋季活力之间的强相关性凸显了种植者的一个重要考虑因素，因为较大的种子大小可能会增加秋季活力，从而影响生产者的盈利能力。