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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Logan, Utah » Forage and Range Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #279681
Title: Stabilizer, a new low growing Siberian wheatgrass cultivar for use on semiarid lands

Author
item Jensen, Kevin
item Bushman, Shaun
item Waldron, Blair
item Robins, Joseph
item Johnson, Douglas
item Staub, Jack

Submitted to: Journal of Plant Registrations
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/10/2012
Publication Date: 1/10/2013
Citation: Jensen, K.B., Bushman, B.S., Waldron, B.L., Robins, J.G., Johnson, D.A., Staub, J.E. 2013. Stabilizer, a new low growing Siberian wheatgrass cultivar for use on semiarid lands. Journal of Plant Registrations. 7:89-94.

Interpretive Summary: Vast areas of semiarid rangeland in the western U.S. are severly disturbed, frequently burned, increasingly eroded, and subsequently infested with troublesome weeds such as cheatgrass and medusahead rye. The USDA-ARS Forage and Range Research Laboratory developed a new Siberian wheatgrass culitvar Stabilizer II for reseeding these severely disturbed rangelands. This unique cultivar is lower growing, maintains its blue-green color throughout the growing season, and produces less forage than cultivars Vavilov and Vavilov II. It was developed for use on arid and semiarid rangelands as a low growing, rapid establishing revegetation grass for use on rangelands and roadsides, and as a grass component in fire strip plantings in the Intermountain West, Great Basin, and Northern Great Plains Regions of western U.S.

Technical Abstract: The United States Department of Agriculture - Agricultural Research Service announces the public release of the cultivar 'Stabilizer' Siberian wheatgrass [Agropyron fragile (Roth) Candargy] as a low growing, rapid establishing revegetation grass for use on rangelands and roadsides, and as a grass component in fire strip plantings in the Intermountain West, Great Basin, and Northern Great Plains Regions of western U.S. Selection emphasis in Stabilizer was for seedling establishment, persistence, seed production, pubescence, and reduced forage yield. During the establishment year, Stabilizer had similar numbers of seedlings per unit area (m2), using a frequency grid, as did the cultivar 'Vavilov II' at Guernsey, WY, Dugway, UT, Beaver, UT, Fillmore, UT, and Malta, ID, and the cultivar 'Vavilov' at King Hill, ID, and Spring City, UT. Stabilizer persisted similar to Vavilov II at Guernsey, WY, Fillmore, UT, and Beaver, UT, but was significantly more persistent than Vavilov II at Malta, ID. Stabilizer had significantly less dry matter yields (0.25 kg plot-1) at Beaver, UT, compared to Vavilov II (0.53 kg plot-1), and Vavilov at (0.60 kg plot-1). Stabilizer was genetically distinct and unique with respect to the other available Siberian wheatgrass varieties.