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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Logan, Utah » Forage and Range Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #367081
Research Project: Improved Plant Genetic Resources and Methodologies for Rangelands, Pastures, and Turf Landscapes in the Semiarid Western U.S.

Location: Forage and Range Research

Title: Agronomic evaluation of the results of selection within early maturing Dactylis glomerata germplasm

Author
item Robins, Joseph
item Jensen, Kevin
item Bushman, Shaun

Submitted to: Agronomy
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/26/2021
Publication Date: 7/29/2021
Citation: Robins, J.G., Jensen, K.B., Bushman, B.S. 2021. Agronomic evaluation of the results of selection within early maturing Dactylis glomerata germplasm. Agronomy. 11(8). Article 1505. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11081505.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11081505

Interpretive Summary: We developed an early maturing orchardgrass population by intermating plants from seven germplasm sources. We tested this population at two Utah field locations under frequent and less frequent harvest intervals in 2013 and 2014. The harvest intervals were intended to mimic hay (infrequent) and grazing (frequent) management. Individual families from the population outperformed to include check cultivars for forage yield and forage quality traits. This population possesses great potential for the development of improved orchardgrass cultivars.

Technical Abstract: Selection from novel orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.) germplasm sources resulted in the development of an early maturing orchardgrass population. The 70 families, based on bulking or maternal seed, that comprise this population were evaluated under frequent and infrequent harvest intervals at Lewiston and Millville, UT, field locations during 2013 and 2014. The objective of this study was to characterize the performance of the individual families and the mean performance of the original germplasm sources when compared to the check cultivars 'icon', 'paiute', and 'potomac'. Across locations and harvest invervals, individual families produced greater herbage dry mass and nutritive value than the check cultivars. However, there was substantial genotype by environment interactions. Because of this, results were analyzed across locations, but within harvest intervals. Despite low rank correlations between the harvest intervals, there were 19 families that produced greater herbage dry mass in each check cultivar in each harvest interval and three families that produced greater water-soluble carbohydrate concentrations in each of the check cultivars but icon in the infrequent harvest interval. There were differences among the original germplasm sources based on the mean performance of their derived families, but the differences were limited. Overall, based on the performance of its component families this early maturing orchardgrass population exhibited great potential for developing improved cultivars for both frequent and infrequent harvest management.