Progress in Selecting Hybrid Bluegrass for Low-Input Turf in Northwest Oklahoma.

Hybrid bluegrass produced from crosses between Texas bluegrass and Kentucky bluegrass can produce turf that combines the superior heat and drought tolerant traits from Texas bluegrass with the turf quality and apomictic seed production from Kentucky bluegrass.  The focus of this presentation is to describe the methods and progress made in selecting hybrid bluegrass from a breeding program initiated in 2003 at the USDA-ARS Southern Plains Range Research Station in Woodward, Oklahoma.  Indigenous Texas bluegrass germplasm (seeds and plants) were collected from multiple locations across northwest Oklahoma, primarily on private land grazed by cattle for decades.  Seeds of Texas bluegrass and Kentucky bluegrass were also obtained from the GRIN system.  Controlled crosses to produce hybrid seed were performed in the greenhouse.  Potential hybrids were evaluated in spaced plant and small plot nurseries to phenotypically identify elite hybrids and also to evaluate progeny plants from hybrids for apomictic reproduction based on uniformity.  DNA markers aided in hybrid confirmation and flow cytometry was performed on leaf tissue to determine genome size and on seeds to determine mode of reproduction.  Many first generation Texas X Kentucky (TK) and (TK)K (F₁ hybrid used as female and an additional KY used as male) hybrids have been evaluated.  Currently, all the fertile, apomictic hybrids that are being further evaluated were derived from hand-harvested seed from the initial hybrids located in field nurseries and are not considered first generation (F₁) hybrids.  Future evaluations planned to test the selected material as low-input turf will be discussed.