Monday, November 13, 2006
70-3
The Heritability of Morphological Characteristics in Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.).
Robert Shortell and Stacy A. Bonos. Rutgers University, 59 Dudley Road, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.) is a popular turfgrass species with a wide range of genetic diversity. Since Kentucky bluegrass reproduces through apomixis, the understanding of how agronomic and morphological characteristics interact with the environment is necessary to improve breeder’s capabilities to develop improved cultivars. The purpose of this study was to determine the broad-sense heritability of several important morphological and agronomic characteristics in Kentucky bluegrass. A spaced-plant nursery was established in the spring of 2003 at the Rutgers University Plant Biology and Pathology Research and Extension Farm in Adelphia, NJ . One-hundred and seventy-three Kentucky bluegrass cultivars and selections (including all entries of the 2000 National Kentucky bluegrass test sponsored by the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program [NTEP]) were planted in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Morphological and agronomic characteristics measured on spaced-plants in 2004 and 2005 included: fifty percent heading date, flowering date, mature plant height, plant spread, panicle length, and flag leaf height, length, and width. Most characteristics exhibited high broad-sense heritability (fifty percent heading date [H = 0.90], flowering date [H = 0.88], plant spread [H = 0.90], plant height [H = 0.84], panicle length [H = 0.88], flag leaf height [H = 0.85], flag leaf length [H = 0.71]) except flag leaf width (H = 0.11). These results indicate that identifying Kentucky bluegrass cultivars with the specific agronomic characteristics reported here should be successful.