REPRODUCTIVE PHENOLOGICAL SCALE IN PANICUM COLORATUM VAR. MAKARIKARIENSE

VANESA PILATTI; M.E. PAGNUCCO; J.A. MANERA; MARÍA A. TOMÁS; CARLOS A. ACUÑA

Pergamino

Congreso; 9TH INTERNATIONAL HERBAGE SEED CONFERENCE; 2017

INTERNATIONAL HERBAGE SEED GROUP

Phenological studies and time elapsed in phenological development are critical to plan an optimal method of harvesting; however, they have been scarce in Panicum coloratum var. makarikariense. With the aim to develop a phenological reproductive scale, we compared three populations (DF, ER and BR) and a recently released cultivar (Kapivera INTA). Ten plants from each material were clonally replicated in 5 blocks in the field. Plants were cut at the end of spring and a tiller was chosen per plant. That was considered day 0 to initiate the phenological scale. Additionally, seed traps were mounted in 3 clones per genotype to evaluate yield components. The phenological scale developed comprises four periods: inflorescence emergence, anthesis, development of the fruit and fruit shattering. Each period has different stages and all of them have their own description. We found that ER and BR required 521 growing degree days (GDD) to complete the first period and initiate anthesis, while Kapivera and DF needed 548 GDD. Population BR needed 609 GDD to complete the second period while all the others required 654. Kapivera, DF and ER finished period III after 766 GDD and began seed shattering but BR only required 654 to reach this point. However, all populations completed the last period after 1140 GGD. Regarding seed yield components, Kapivera was the one that produced the largest number of seeds with the highest weight and presented highest proportion of mature over empty seeds, while BR was the one that had the lightest seeds in the smallest number and presented highest proportion of empty seeds.