Project Number: 3655-21000-056-02
Project Type: General Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Sep 01, 2012
End Date: Mar 31, 2013

Objective:
One objective of the CenUSA project is to conduct genomic selection on late-flowering lowland switchgrass populations. To accomplish this, we require half-sib families from diverse germplasm sources, mostly from accessions found in the southern USA. We have previously tested accessions from Mississippi and found them to have acceptable levels of winterhardiness, sufficient to be included in genomic selection protocols. The objective of this agreement is to produce seed of 100-150 half-sib families of two late-flowering lowland accessions from Mississippi (Expresso and an unnamed wild population).

Approach:
Ripe seeds will be harvested from approximately 100 to 150 parent plants representing the two accessions. At the time of seed harvest, two green leaves of each maternal parent will be collected. Seeds will be threshed, cleaned, and shipped to the ARS collaborator at Madison, WI prior to 1 January 2013. Green leaves will be freeze dried and shipped to Madison, WI. Seeds and green leaves from a maternal parent should be labeled identically so that each seed sample can be unequivocally matched to a green leaf sample.