Effects of Self‐Compatibility on Chance Crossing in Medicago sativa L.1

Nineteen M. sativa clones were evaluated for percent pod set, seeds/pod, seeds/100 flowers tripped and ovules/‐ovary. Pod set was significantly correlated with seeds/pod (r = +0.96). Ovules/ovary was not significantly correlated with either seeds/pod or pod set. Eight of the 19 clones ranging in pod set from 6.9 to 91.2% averaged over 2 self‐pollinations were selected to study the effects of self‐incompatibility on chance crossing without emasculation. These 8 clones were used as females and hand crossed with and without emasculation to 2 different yellow‐flowered clones as males. When the emasculated progenies were compared to the unemasculated progenies, only 1 of the 16 comparisons was significantly different with either the "t" test or X2 of the frequency distribution. The data suggested no relationship between percent self compatibility and selfing when hand crosses were made without emasculation.