Workshop on New Grass Germplasms
19
quickly, protecting the soil and moisture; however, as a warm-climate annual,
it quickly dies back, allowing the fescues to come in. After two to four years,
switchgrass dominates the stand.
A description of our program was published in Diversity (Palazzo and Hardy
1998). Appendix C lists all publications related to this research project.
New germplasms
Kevin Jensen, Research Geneticist, USDA-ARS, Logan, Utah
The goal of the breeding program is to breed improved native and introduced
plant germplasms to control erosion and provide stable plant ecosystems on mili-
tary training lands. The characters of interest are
Increased tillering rate
Rhizome development
Increased rate of seed germination and better seedling vigor
Resistance to drought and temperature extremes
Salinity tolerance.
At the beginning of the program, many more species were examined and
eventually dropped as the most promising species became apparent. Seedling
vigor was identified as the most important of the above desired characters.
At Yakima Training Center, 134 collections were made in 1994 and 1995,
including the natives bluebunch wheatgrass, Sandberg bluegrass, basin wildrye,
and western yarrow. At Fort Carson, 166 collections were made, including the
native species western wheatgrass, blue grama, sideoats grama, and Indian
ricegrass.
Evaluation trials were established at both Yakima Training Center and Fort
Carson during the fall of 1994 and 1996. The plots are 5 feet by 75 feet, with
four replications. Visual percent stand and vigor ratings were taken throughout
19951998. Over 60 cultivars, breeding lines, and material directly from the
training sites were included in the Yakima trials. Over 40 cultivars, breeding
lines, and material indigenous to the training sites were included at Fort Carson.
Based on the evaluation trials (see Tables 1 and 2), the following species
were selected for improvement:
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