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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Logan, Utah » Forage and Range Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #304476
Title: UTDG -101, a late-maturing orchardgrass germplasm with increased winter hardiness and forage quality

Author
item Jensen, Kevin
item Robins, Joseph
item Bushman, Shaun
item Johnson, Douglas
item STRATTON, SAMUEL - Ffr Cooperative
item HEATON, KEVIN - Utah State University

Submitted to: Journal of Plant Registrations
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/25/2014
Publication Date: 8/25/2014
Citation: Jensen, K.B., Robins, J.G., Bushman, B.S., Johnson, D.A., Stratton, S.D., Heaton, K. 2014. UTDG -101, a late-maturing orchardgrass germplasm with increased winter hardiness and forage quality. Journal of Plant Registrations. 8:318-323.

Interpretive Summary: The United States Department of Agriculture - Agricultural Research Service announces the public release of the orchardgrass UTDG-101 germplasm as a late-maturing grass with excellent forage quality and increased winter tolerance for use in orchardgrass breeding programs. UTDG-101 originated from four orchardgrass collections made within 100 km west-southwest of Zhaosu County, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China. Spring forage crude protein concentrations were greater in UTDG-101 (191.4 g kg-1) compared to a range of 132.6 to 158.2 g kg-1 in cultivars Benchmark Plus, Potomac, Paiute, and Seco at Buck Creek, IN. UTDG-101 had 15% less ADF (293.2 g kg-1) and 13% less NDF (495.0 g kg-1) than the other orchardgrasses. Sugar levels in were 30 and 15% greater in UTDG-101 forage when harvested 16 May (58.8 g kg-1) and 5 July (34.2 g kg-1) than the other orchardgrass. UTDG-101 had a 30 and 19% increase in water-soluble carbohydrate concentrations on 16 May (75.8 g kg-1) and 5 July (47.9 g kg-1) over the other orchardgrasses. Due to the high combining ability of UTDG-101 for flowering date forage nutritional quality, it represents new germplasm useful for developing late-maturing orchardgrass with increased forage quality and reduced winter injury for use in alfalfa mixtures.

Technical Abstract: There is a need to identify novel germplasm that is late-maturing, winter hardy, and nutritious that can be incorporated into current orchardgrass breeding programs. The United States Department of Agriculture - Agricultural Research Service announces the public release of a late-maturing orchardgrass UTDG-101 germplasm with excellent forage quality and increased winter tolerance for use in orchardgrass breeding programs. UTDG-101 traces back to polycross seed that originated from crosses among four orchardgrass collections (PI 659612, PI 659613, W6 20243, and W6 20247) made within a region 100 km west-southwest of Zhaosu County, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China. Based on pairwise O-st values (SSR's), UTDG-101 is genetically distinct from orchardgrass cultivars 'Paiute', 'Pennlate', and 'Benchmark'. Diagnostically, UTDG-101 has significantly (P<0.05) longer flag leaves than the orchardgrass cultivars examined in this study, UTDG-101 is an autotetraploid (2n=4x=28). In forage harvested 16 May 2011, UTDG-101 had significantly greater crude protein (CP) (191.4 g kg-1), relative feed value (124.2), sugars (58.8 g kg-1), water-soluble carbohydrates (sugars + fructans; WSC) (75.8 g kg-1), and digestibility (660.6 g kg-1) and significantly lower acid detergent fiber (ADF) (293.2 g kg-1) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) (495.6 g kg-1) than cultivars Benchmark Plus, Potomac, Paiute, and Seco. Forage of UTDG-101 harvested on 5 July 2011 had significantly lower NDF and increased fructan, sugar, and WSC concentrations than the check cultivars. UTDG-101 exhibited significantly (P<0.05) less winter injury than other orchardgrass cultivars, tall fescue, and perennial ryegrass cultivars examined.