Fortress
1. Breeding methods used in development of Fortress were phenotypic recurrent selection and line or strain crossing. Approximately 2,000 plants served as parents of Fortress. Selection criteria were resistance to Phytophthora root rot, spotted alfalfa aphid, Verticillium wilt and anthracnose. Germplasm used in development of Fortress was derived from Apollo II (50%) and DK135 (50%). Original germplasm sources of these lines were Flemish (42%), Medicago varia (22%), Chilean (12%), Medicago falcata (8%), Ladak (8%), Turkistan (4%) with four percent unknown.
2. Primary use of Fortress will be for general forage production and its area of adaptation is the Northern U.S. It has been tested in Pennsylvania, Washington and Minnesota. It will probably be marketed throughout the Northern U.S.
3. Fortress has moderate fall dormancy and is most similar to Saranac. Flower color is approximately 96% purple, 2% cream, 1% white and 1% variegated.
4. Fortress has high resistance to Phytophthora root rot, stem nematode and spotted alfalfa aphid; it has resistance to bacterial wilt, Fusarium wilt, Verticillium wilt and pea aphid. It has not been tested for reaction to blue alfalfa aphid. It also has a low level of resistance to Aphanomyces but exact percentage of resistant plants has not been adequately determined.
5. Adequate breeder seed (Syn 1) was produced to last the life of the variety during one year. Seed classes will be breeder (Syn 1), foundation (Syn 2 or 3) and certified (Syn 2, 3 or 4). Two generations of foundation seed may be produced at the discretion of Northrup King Co. Limitation on age of stand will be one, three and five years, respectively for production of breeder, foundation and certified seed.
6. Certified seed will be offered for sale in 1988.
7. Application for plant variety protection may be made but the certification option will not be requested.
8. Information in this application may be turned over to the PVP office.