BIDIRECTIONAL SELECTION FOR NEUTRAL DETERGENT FIBER AND YIELD IN REED CANARYGRASS

Increasing animal voluntary intake and forage yield are two important goals in breeding reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea L.). The objective of this research was to evaluate the effect of one cycle of selection for both the concentration of neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and yield in reed canarygrass. NDF is considered an indicator of intake potential. Five groups of five plants each were selected for NDF and forage yield from a reed canarygrass population previously selected for low alkaloid concentration and high seed retention. These five groups were designated: low NDF-Iow yield (LL), low NDF-high yield (LH), mean NDF-mean yield (MM), high NDF-low yield (HL) and high NDF-high yield (HH). Progenies from these selections were evaluated in spaced-plant nurseries at a reproductive stage of growth and at three vegetative harvests. Measurements were made for maturity, yield per plant, yield per area, area per plant, and NDF, acid detergent fiber (ADF), and crude protein (CP) were measured by near infrar...