TITLE:
Phenotyping Winter Dormancy in Switchgrass to Extend the Growing Season and Improve Biomass Yield
AUTHORS:
Rasyidah Mohamad Razar, Ali Missaoui
KEYWORDS:
Winter Dormancy, Fall Growth, Senescence, Spring Regrowth, Flowering
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Sustainable Bioenergy Systems,
Vol.8 No.1,
March
28,
2018
ABSTRACT: Switchgrass is a prominent bioenergy crop. Like most perennial warm season species, switchgrass undergoes growth suspension in winter as a surviving strategy in temperate climates to protect their meristems from cold injuries and dehydration, while storage organs below ground drive spring regrowth when conditions become favourable. In this paper, we describe a reliable phenotyping method for winter dormancy in switchgrass using various traits including regrowth height after clipping in early fall (FRH), senescence percentage, date of spring regrowth (SRD), and flowering date (FD). FRH and senescence percentage appear to be reliable indicators of the onset of winter dormancy, whereby accessions that initiated dormancy early have a low FRH and a high senescence percentage. Even though it is difficult to have an exact assessment of the duration of dormancy because it is hard to determine with precision the date of growth suspension, SRD can be used as a surrogate indicator of the duration. Flowering date showed low correlations with all the traits and biomass yield suggesting that it may not be a reliable indicator for winter dormancy in switchgrass. Combining the variables FRH, senescence, and SRD in a selection index may provide a reliable tool to phenotype winter dormancy in switchgrass. The strong correlation of these variables with biomass yield makes them useful candidates for the manipulation of the duration of dormancy to increase the growing season and consequently improving biomass production. In southern regions with mild winters, it might be possible through intense selection to develop germplasm with much reduced dormancy or even non-dormant switchgrass germplasm.