TURFGRASS QUALITY AND MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF BUFFALOGRASS [BUCHLOE DACTYLOIDES (Nutt.) Engelm.] ECOTYPES

Abstract

A native species of North America with great potential for being used as turf is buffalograss [Buchloe dactyloides (Nutt.) Engelm.] because its adaptive and turfgrass quality characteristics for the environmental conditions of northern México. This study was focused on the characterization and grouping of 45 Buffalograss genotypes collected in the states of Coahuila, San Luis Potosí, Zacatecas and Nuevo León, as well as some materials introduced from the USA, all of them with a known ploidy level. The experiment was established in greenhouse and field. With ten morphological and seven of turfgrass quality variables a principal components analysis (PCA) and a cluster analysis were performed. The PCA did not allow to define homogeneous groups, but the cluster analysis showed that diploid materials tended to be grouped with tetraploids, in the group which had the best furf quality. Pentaploids were grouped with hexaploids, and both pf them which presented the thickest texture and a greatest plant height.