Morphological and agronomic variation of Puccinellia nuttalliana populations from the Canadian Great Plains

Liu, Y. and Coulman, B. E. 2015. Morphological and agronomic variation of Puccinellia nuttalliana populations from the Canadian Great Plains. Can. J. Plant Sci. 95: 67–76. Native grass species are adapted to local environments and have the potential for development as forage or turf grass cultivars for semiarid environments. Nuttall's alkali grass [Puccinellia nuttalliana (Shultes) Hitchc.] is a salt-tolerant grass with potential for forage or turf use, and is widely distributed across western North America. Understanding the morphological and agronomic variability of this species is a prerequisite for developing populations suitable for dry and saline regions of western Canada. A collection of 24 Puccinellia nuttalliana populations from the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta were established in a field nursery in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Plant height, crown diameter, tiller number, seed yield, dry matter yield, leaf colour, leaf length, leaf width, spring growth and late summer regrowth of i...