Publication Date
1989
Description
Buchloe dactyloides (Nutt.) Engelm. is a perennial, sod-forming shortgrass of central North America (Hitchcock, 1951), thriving under semiarid conditions and increasing under moderate to heavy grazing (Quinn, 1987). The species is largely dioecious, and sex ratios are either 1 : 1 or female-biased (Quinn and Engel, 1986). Isolated plants under controlled conditions are strictly male, strictly female, or monoecious (0 to 20 %, depending on the population). Over the last half-century, buffalograss has been widely used in central North America for reseeding depleted rangelands and for erosion control (Quinn, 1985), and recently it has received renewed attention as a turf species (C.R. Funk, personal communication, 1988). The efforts of breeders to develop varieties whose seeds produce more females than males (Quinn, 1985) and the testing and use of vegetatively-propagated clones (C.R. Funk, personal communication, 1988) raise questions as to whether females are more productive and/or better forage plants or whether males and females differ in competitiveness or in site preference. Because certain genotypes are slow to flower, a secondary aim was to determine if vegetative characters could be used to identify the sex prior to flowering.
Citation
Quinn, J A., "Sex Linkage of Growth and Forage Attributes in Buffalograss (Buchloe dactyloides)" (2025). IGC Proceedings (1989-2023). 59.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc/1989/session3b/59
Included in
Agricultural Science Commons, Agronomy and Crop Sciences Commons, Plant Biology Commons, Plant Pathology Commons, Soil Science Commons, Weed Science Commons
Sex Linkage of Growth and Forage Attributes in Buffalograss (Buchloe dactyloides)
Buchloe dactyloides (Nutt.) Engelm. is a perennial, sod-forming shortgrass of central North America (Hitchcock, 1951), thriving under semiarid conditions and increasing under moderate to heavy grazing (Quinn, 1987). The species is largely dioecious, and sex ratios are either 1 : 1 or female-biased (Quinn and Engel, 1986). Isolated plants under controlled conditions are strictly male, strictly female, or monoecious (0 to 20 %, depending on the population). Over the last half-century, buffalograss has been widely used in central North America for reseeding depleted rangelands and for erosion control (Quinn, 1985), and recently it has received renewed attention as a turf species (C.R. Funk, personal communication, 1988). The efforts of breeders to develop varieties whose seeds produce more females than males (Quinn, 1985) and the testing and use of vegetatively-propagated clones (C.R. Funk, personal communication, 1988) raise questions as to whether females are more productive and/or better forage plants or whether males and females differ in competitiveness or in site preference. Because certain genotypes are slow to flower, a secondary aim was to determine if vegetative characters could be used to identify the sex prior to flowering.
