Publication Date
1985
Description
Prairie grass (Bromus catharticus Yahl) is a little used pasture species in Australia. However, the availability of Grasslands Matua from New Zealand has prompted renewed interest in the plant. Low tillering capacity is a major limitation on good performance of prairie grass in pastures (Hill and Pearson 1985). A comparison of the morphology of Australian commercial lines with a world collection was carried out to define the available variation in agronomically important morphological characters, and Matua was compared with an Australian line at two cutting frequencies and two temperatures during spring and summer. Two morphological groups were distinguished by canonical variate and principle component analyses; small tillered, high tillering types with low yield capacity, and large tillered, low tillering types with high yield capacity. Grasslands Matua appeared to have the highest tillering capacity possible while still remaining within the high yielding group. Matua maintained higher tiller populations during summer than an Australian line under cutting at 21/16 and 30/25°C. Prairie grass types with high tiller production and yield per tiller such as Matua, may be more tolerant of mismanagement and better survivors in Australian pastures.
Citation
Hill, M J. and Kirby, A C., "Morphological Variation in Prairie Grass" (2025). IGC Proceedings (1989-2023). 30.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc/1989/session14/30
Included in
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Morphological Variation in Prairie Grass
Prairie grass (Bromus catharticus Yahl) is a little used pasture species in Australia. However, the availability of Grasslands Matua from New Zealand has prompted renewed interest in the plant. Low tillering capacity is a major limitation on good performance of prairie grass in pastures (Hill and Pearson 1985). A comparison of the morphology of Australian commercial lines with a world collection was carried out to define the available variation in agronomically important morphological characters, and Matua was compared with an Australian line at two cutting frequencies and two temperatures during spring and summer. Two morphological groups were distinguished by canonical variate and principle component analyses; small tillered, high tillering types with low yield capacity, and large tillered, low tillering types with high yield capacity. Grasslands Matua appeared to have the highest tillering capacity possible while still remaining within the high yielding group. Matua maintained higher tiller populations during summer than an Australian line under cutting at 21/16 and 30/25°C. Prairie grass types with high tiller production and yield per tiller such as Matua, may be more tolerant of mismanagement and better survivors in Australian pastures.
