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Sex Expression in Buffalograss under Different Environments 1
Author(s) -
Huff D. R.,
Wu Lin
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
crop science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.76
H-Index - 147
eISSN - 1435-0653
pISSN - 0011-183X
DOI - 10.2135/cropsci1987.0011183x002700040002x
Subject(s) - plant reproductive morphology , biology , sex ratio , population , botany , demography , sociology
Sex expression in buffalograss [ Buchloe dactyloides (Nutt.) Engelm.] is considered to be complex and not always predictable from field observations. The objective of this study was to examine sex expression in buffalograss for predictable patterns. The distribution of sex forms was examined for two populations of buffalograss, Colorado common and Texas native. Frequency of monoecious plants was found to be higher in the Colorado common population than in the Texas native population. Sex expression was studied under different environmental conditions, including warm (day, 35°C/night, 27°C) and cool (day, 24°C/night, 15°C) temperatures, high (15.05 μmol photon m ‐2 s‐1 ) and low (7.40 μmol photon m −2 s −1 ) light conditions, and high (181 kg ha −1 ) and low (45 kg ha −1 ) N fertilization levels. The sex expression of male and female plants (dioecious) remained constant over all environmental treatments. The trends of sex expression for monoecious sex forms, however, showed that conditions of warm temperature, high light, and low N were favorable for female sex expression, whereas conditions of cool temperature, low light, and high N were favorable for male sex expression. A significant effect on sex expression was only produced by the N treatment for predominately female monoecious sex form. In addition, sex expression was significantly different between genotypes within monoecious sex forms. This conclusion suggests that the stability of sex expression in buffalograss is genotype dependent.