Morphological and physiological traits associated with forage biomass productivity in Leptochloa crinita accessions

DOMINGUEZ, DEOLINDO LUIS E.; CAVAGNARO, JUAN BRUNO; CAVAGNARO, PABLO FEDERICO

Congreso; XXXIII Argentinian meeting of Plant Physiology (RAFV2021); 2021

Leptochloa crinita is an important C4 perennial native grass widespread in the arid and semi-arid rangelands of the American continent. Previous studies have revealed broad genetic variability in forage biomass production among L. crinita accessions. The aim of this work was to evaluate morphological and physiological traits associated with biomass productivity in L. crinita accessions. A two-year replicated trial was carried out with 21 accessions of L. crinita from the IADIZA (CONICET) Germplasm Bank. The plants were field-cultivated, ensuring standard irrigation and fertilization conditions for all the accessions. During two vegetative cycles (seasons 2016/17 and 2017/18), total leaf area, and foliage and roots biomass, were monitored independently, at four sampling times during cultivation. In addition, the following variables were measured weekly in all the accessions: stomatal conductance, chlorophyll index, and maximum efficiency of photosystem II (Fv/Fm). Consistently for both years, significant differences (p