SEVEN LITTLE BLUESTEM POPULATIONS SELECTED FOR CANOPY MORPHOLOGY: SELECTED CLASSES OF GERMPLASM.

Little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium (Michx.) Nash [Poaceae]) selected germplasm lines 'NU-1', PI 676262; 'NU-2', PI 676263; 'UC-1', PI 676264; 'UC-2', PI 676265; 'UO-1', PI 676266; 'UO-2', PI 676267; and 'UO-3', PI 676268 are synthetic populations selected for canopy morphology. We open-pollinated 727 plants representing 19 accessions to produce seeds for a synthetic population. Accessions were from Texas (12), Rhode Island (1), Wyoming (1), South Dakota (2), and 3 were cultivars. The synthetic population consisted of 4644 plants. After mass selection for canopy morphology, resistance to leaf rust (Puccinia andropogonis [Pucciniaceae]), resistance to culm lodging, and tolerance to a high pH soil, 476 plants remained. We used a cluster analysis to group the selected plants into 7 synthetic populations. Variables used for clustering within each canopy morphology were flowering date, plant height, canopy width, abaxial leaf color hue, value, and chroma; adaxial leaf color hue, value, and chroma; leaf blade length score, leaf blade width score, adaxial leaf angle score, and culm-base leafiness score. The 7 germplasm populations are useful for the breeding and (or) development of cultivars for wildlife habitat, grazing utilization, roadside stabilization, renewable energy, and (or) horticultural landscapes in the southern Great Plains of the US. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]