Screening Centipedegrass Populations for Morphological Variation.

Centipedegrass (Eremochloa ophiuroides) is a low maintenance turfgrass species that is well adapted to the southeastern and south central regions of the United States.  The most widely used cultivars, ‘TifBlair’ and ‘Common’, have similar backgrounds, which increases the chances of genetic vulnerability within the species.  Morphological variation can be seen on an individual plant basis in centipedegrass, but the phenotypic and genotypic variation is typically small at the population level.  In efforts to add diversity to the germplasm, a collection trip was conducted around the center of origin China.  To quantify the variability from this germplasm, individual plants from five experimental populations and the cultivar TifBlair will be screened for morphological characteristics such as leaf length, leaf width, and percent turf cover. The field trial was planted on 9 June 2016 in a randomized complete block design with seven replications, and nine subsample plots in each replication. The mean ± standard deviation for leaf lengths of the experimental populations TC-196, TC-427, TC-437, TC-428, and TC-434 were 99.3 ± 22.7mm, 95.8 ± 20.4mm, 95.0 ± 25.2mm, 91.2 ± 25.1mm, and 85.9 ± 22.8mm respectively, as compared to TifBlair at 95.6 ± 22.1mm. The mean, minimum, maximum, and standard deviations for leaf widths of all experimental centipedgrass populations and TifBlair were similar during 2016, with the mean ± standard deviation for leaf width of all populations together being 4.1 ± 0.6mm. Mean turf cover 45d after planting were similar for all populations and ranged from 10.7 to 14.2%, but on an individual plant basis cover ranged from a minimum of 1 to 3% to a maximum of 25 to 36%. Further measurement of morphological and seed yield component characteristics within and among these centipedegrass populations over time is still needed to determine the level of variability available to turfgrass breeders for improvement through selection.