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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Tifton, Georgia » Crop Genetics and Breeding Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #195751
Title: Registration of TifQuik bahiagrass

Author
item Anderson, William - Bill
item GATES, R - UNIV OF GA
item HANNA, W - UNIV OF GA

Submitted to: Journal of Plant Registrations
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/25/2010
Publication Date: 6/1/2011
Citation: Anderson, W.F., Gates, R.N., Hanna, W.W. 2011. Registration of TifQuik bahiagrass. Journal of Plant Registrations. 5:147-150.

Interpretive Summary: TifQuik bahiagrass (Panicum notatum Flügge) cultivar has reduced hard seed and thus faster germination and field establishment than Tifton 9. It has value for establishing bahiagrass forage fields quickly, such that the pasture is covered earlier and grazing or hay removal may be performed sooner with higher yields. The current bahiagrass cultivars have a considerable amount of hard seed and thus require two or three weeks to establish the full stand, during which time weeds may infest the pasture or moisture for germination may be restricted. ‘Tifquik’ will be particularly valuable to growers who wish to include bahiagrass in a sod-based rotation system with row crops such as peanut and cotton in Southeastern United States

Technical Abstract: TifQuik is a result of four cycles of selection for fast germination from Tifton 9 using the recurrent restricted phenotypic selection (RRPS) previously used by Glenn Burton for yield improvements in bahiagrass. For each cycle, enough seed was planted from the previous cycle to obtain 1000 seedlings that germinated within the first week. The sole criterion for selection of plants was early germination. Seedlings were transplanted to 5 cm clay pots in greenhouse and then to a fumigated field to establish a nursery. Plants were allowed to cross pollinate, seed was hand harvested, and the seed was then used to start the next cycle during the following spring in the greenhouse. The four cycles were completed in 2002. Seed from 2002 was used to establish greenhouse germination tests, a replicated field test and begin seed increase. Germination of TifQuik averaged a five-fold increase compared to Tifton 9 after six days and 3 fold better than Tifton 9 after eight days in greenhouse studies. In field studies TifQuik emerged significantly quicker (75%) than Tifton 9 (32%) and Pensacola (18%) after one week. After 4 weeks, TifQuik (21 cm) plants were taller compared to Tifton 9 (12 cm) and Pensacola (10.5 cm). Dry matter yields of TifQuik were two and four times higher than Tifton 9 and Pensacola two months after planting, respectively. Subsequent yields from cuttings at 4 week intervals resulted in similar yields between TifQuik and Tifton 9.