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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Logan, Utah » Forage and Range Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #339957
Title: Association among US locations for orchardgrass production

Author
item Robins, Joseph
item SMITH, RAY - University Of Kentucky
item HALL, MARVIN - Pennsylvania State University
item TEUTSCH, CHRIS - University Of Kentucky
item UNDERSANDER, DANIEL - University Of Wisconsin

Submitted to: Crop, Forage & Turfgrass Management
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/6/2017
Publication Date: 8/17/2017
Citation: Robins, J.G., Smith, R.F., Hall, M.H., Teutsch, C.D., Undersander, D.J. 2017. Association among US locations for orchardgrass production. Crop, Forage & Turfgrass Management. 3(1):1-7. https://doi.org/10.2134/cftm2017.02.0012.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2134/cftm2017.02.0012

Interpretive Summary: A multi-location evaluation of thirteen orchardgrass cultivars identified patterns associated with genotype by environment interaction. Dry matter yield, stand percentage, maturity, and regrowth were all strongly affected by genotype by environment interaction across the five locations and four years. The study found little relationship among the locations for the traits. The cultivars 'Benchmark Plus' and 'Persist' exhibited generally high dry matter yield across the environments. However, the best cultivars in each environment were generally environment specific. Thus, decision making must be made by comparing results from multiple locations and looking for those cultivars best adapted to a producer's local conditions.

Technical Abstract: Thirteen orchardgrass (Dacylis glomerata L.) cultivars were evaluated over four years at five U.S. field locations in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin. The objective was to determine the relationship among the five locations for orchardgrass agronomic performance. Cultivar by environment interaction was identified for dry matter yield, stand percentage, maturity rating, disease rating, spring regrowth, and fall regrowth. Concordance values for dry matter yield were moderate to high (r = 0.46 to 0.84) among the locations, with the exception of Wisconsin which showed little association with the other locations. Concordance values for the remaining traits generally did not differ from zero, or were low to moderate in magnitude. These rankings indicated that there was little association among the locations for orchardgrass performance. This was further illustrated by the mean values of the cultivars for each trait. In only a few cases did a cultivar possess high for a trait at more than one location. Notable exceptions were the generally high dry matter yield of the cultivars 'Benchmark Plus' and 'Persist' and the high disease resistance of the cultivars 'Barlegro', Excellate SA', and 'Harvestar'. While association among the locations was limited, producers may garner important information on cultivar decisions by comparing results from multiple locations to identify trends in agronomic performance.