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ARS Home » Plains Area » College Station, Texas » Southern Plains Agricultural Research Center » Crop Germplasm Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #235795

Title: Registration of 'Sabine' Dallisgrass

Author
item Burson, Byron
item Venuto, Bradley
item HUSSEY, M. - DEPT. SOIL & CROP-TAMU

Submitted to: Journal of Plant Registrations
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/11/2009
Publication Date: 5/1/2009
Citation: Burson, B.L., Venuto, B.C., Hussey, M.A. 2009. Registration of 'Sabine' Dallisgrass. Journal of Plant Registrations. 3:132-137.

Interpretive Summary: Common dallisgrass was introduced into the southern United States sometime prior to 1840. Because it was well adapted to the region, the grass persisted and spread throughout much of the southeastern U.S., especially in areas with clay soils. Consequently, it became a major component in many of the native pastures and it became recognized as a desirable pasture grass. The grass has several desirable characteristics but it also has some limitations. One limitation is the grass does not produce as much forage as some of the other introduced grasses such as bermudagrass. Because common dallisgrass reproduces by vegetative means, plant breeders have not been able to improve the grass. Several years ago, a different form of dallisgrass was collected in South America and it was given the name Uruguayan dallisgrass. This new dallisgrass type was a larger plant than common dallisgrass and it grew taller. Because of its larger size, several lines of the Uruguayan dallisgrass as well as common dallisgrass were grown in yield tests in Louisiana and Texas for several years and it was determined that the new dallisgrass type consistently produced more forage than common. More interestingly, the Uruguayan dallisgrass persisted much better than common on wet soils. One of the lines of the Uruguayan dallisgrass with the higher forage yields and better persistence than common was selected and released as a new cultivar. This line was given the name Sabine. This is the first dallisgrass cultivar to be released in the U.S. since 1951, and it is the first cultivar released that is not common dallisgrass. Sabine will provide livestock producers in the southeastern U.S. with a dallisgrass type that is more productive and persistent than common dallisgrass.

Technical Abstract: 'Sabine' dallisgrass (Paspalum dilatatum Poir.) (Reg. No. CV-2; PI 655527) was released by the USDA-Agricultural Research Service, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, and Texas AgriLife Research on 2 September 2008. This cultivar is phenotypically and cytologically different from common dallisgrass and originates from a different P. dilatatum biotype referred to as the Uruguayan biotype. Sabine is a single plant selection from an off-type plant that originated from the facultative apomictic accession PI 404826. It was selected because it consistantly produced more forage and was more persistent under defoliation than common dallisgrass in multi-year forage evaluation plots in Louisiana and Texas. Its forage nutritive value is equivalent to that of common. Since common is currently the only dallisgrass biotype that is grown for forage throughout the southern United States, Sabine was released to provide livestock producers in the southeastern U.S. with a more productive and persistent dallisgrass option.