Proceedings of the XLVII Italian Society of Agricultural Genetics - SIGA Annual Congress

Verona, Italy - 24/27 September, 2003

ISBN 88-900622-4-X

Poster Abstract - 2.06

FROM THE WILD TO CULTIVATION: NATIVE BERMUDAGRASS GERMPLASM UNDER ADVANCED SELECTION FOR TURFS

E. PIANO, M. ROMANI, A.M. CARRONI, L. PECETTI

Istituto Sperimentale per le Colture Foraggere, Lodi

bermudagrass, Cynodon dactylon, genetic resources, selection, turfgrasses

Bermudagrass is a warm-season grass well adapted to tropical and warm temperate climates, and very suitable for high-quality turfs, owing to its good density, texture and wear-tolerance. Despite its potential interest for the Mediterranean areas of Italy, until recent years the research on bermudagrass in this country has been scanty, and all the varieties avaialble in the market are of foreign origin. In the framework of a novel national research programme on turfgrasses, great attention has been paid to the collection, evaluation and valorisation of native genetic resources of turfgrass species, to enhance the knowledge on the local germplasm, and favour the development of varieties originating from this germplasm. Altogether, 57 bermudagrass accessions were collected, mostly in Mediterranean environments. In this study, information is reported on 25 accessions (20 from the island of Sardinia, 4 from the coastal strip of Liguria, and one from Emilia in northern Italy), that were commonly evaluated for a two-year period at two contrasting locations (viz., one with Mediterranean climate in Sardinia and one with sub-continental climate in northern Italy) for overall turf quality, leaf texture, turf density, and duration of turf green colour (from spring greenup to the onset of the cold season). At both locations of evaluation, a group of six populations, collected in Sardinia, outstandingly emerged from the native germplasm, and also with respect to a set of commercial varieties used as references. The six populations showed very high turf quality, high density, fine texture, and longer duration of the turf green colour. The duration of the green appearance was greatly influenced by the environment, but at both locations the six populations were green for about 7-10 days longer than the best commercial cultivars. These populations obviously represent material of great interest for the breeding activity. Further to this evaluation, the level of ploidy of the six populations has been checked, to exclude that the positive turf attributes were accounted for by their diploid or triploid (hybrid) nature, as our objectives are tetraploid, seed-propagated cultivars. All six populations have shown 2n=4x=36 chromosomes, insuring that this germplasm represents ‘common’ Cynodon dactylon. A preliminary selection of clones within these populations (for frost tolerance and turf quality) has been carried out, and an evaluation of promising clones under dense-sward conditions is in progress. Investigations on seed yield (to assess the possible presence of intra-population mechanisms of self-sterility/self-incompatibility) have been arranged.