Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Baldwin, Brian S.

Committee Member

Phillips, J. Mike

Committee Member

Meints, Paul D.

Committee Member

Lemus, Rocky W.

Committee Member

Rinehart, Timothy A.

Date of Degree

5-7-2016

Document Type

Dissertation - Open Access

Major

Plant and Soil Sciences

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

College

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Department

Department of Plant and Soil Sciences

Abstract

Perennial warm-season grasses constitute the backbone of many forage production systems, whether for grazing or harvested feed. North American native plants, specifically grasses, forbs and legumes offer unique ecosystem benefits along with forage quality and digestibility that are unmatched by introduced species. The disparity in breeding and research focused on improvement of introduced species as opposed to native genera has led to inflated use of introduced species as forage types in lieu of native options, due to their unimproved nature. Eastern gamagrass [Tripsacum dactyloides (L.) L.] is proven to be a widely adapted, highly productive forage species in the southeast, Great Plains and northeast United States. A major limitation to more widespread use of eastern gamagrass is high seed dormancy, which leads to increased seed cost. Here, research used recurrent phenotypic selection breeding methods to reduce seed dormancy, with the ultimate goal of developing a population of individuals that produce non-dormant eastern gamagrass seed.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/17576

Comments

diploid||flow cytometry||seedlot quality||forage||restricted recurrent phenotypic selection||Tripsacum||tetraploid

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