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Title: EVALUATION AND SELECTION OF TISSUE CULTURE REGENERATED DALLISGRASS PLANTS.

Author
item Venuto, Bradley
item CROUGHAN, SUE - RETIRED
item PITMAN, WILLIAM - LSU AG CENTER, LA

Submitted to: Agronomy Society of America, Crop Science Society of America, Soil Science Society of America Meeting
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/28/2004
Publication Date: 11/3/2004
Citation: Venuto, B.C., Croughan, S.S., Pitman, W.D. 2004. Evaluation and selection of tissue culture regenerated dallisgrass plants [abstract]. Agronomy Society of America, Crop Science Society of America, Soil Science Society of America Meeting. Paper No. 3675.

Interpretive Summary: Abstract Only.

Technical Abstract: Dallisgrass (Paspalum dilatatum Poir.) is a perennial bunchgrass that provides summer forage for much of the Gulf Coast region of the U.S.A. Common dallisgrass is an apomictic pentaploid and breeding efforts to improve dallisgrass have been limited due to its non-sexual reproductive behavior. Introduction of hexaploid dallisgrass biotypes has resulted in useful new genetic variation. Application of tissue culture regeneration to produce somaclonal variants of these newer dallisgrass biotypes has not previously been reported. The objectives of this research were to 1) re-generate hexaploid dallisgrass plants through tissue culture, 2) evaluate individual regenerated plants for useful agronomic variation, and 3) evaluate forage yield and nutritive value of promising plants in field trials. Over an 8 year period, more than 2,300 plants were regenerated from tissue culture and established in spaced plant nurseries. 178 were evaluated for yield and forage quality and 37 of these were advanced to replicated field trials. Forage nutritive value did not vary from parent genotypes but two regenerates were observed to have significantly improved forage yield relative to common and hexaploid dallisgrass controls.