Phenotypic and Genotypic Variation for Biomass Yield Components in Half-Sib Families of Prairie Cordgrass

Prairie cordgrass is a warm season, C4 perennial grass native to most of North America with exceptional potential as a bioenergy crop. With its excellent stress tolerance, prairie cordgrass is a good candidate as a dedicated energy crop on marginal land. However, little is known about phenotypic and genotypic variation of agronomic traits and yield components related to biomass yield within this species. In this study, we explore both phenotypic variation and genotypic variation of prairie cordgrass natural populations using morphological and molecular markers. A total of 14 half-sib families were established in a research nursery in Urbana, IL in 2011, phenotyped over three years, and are being genotyped using genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS). Phenotypic traits including plant height, tiller weight, heading date and phytomer number showed high repeatability (0.83, 0.71, 0.68 and 0.55, respectively). Future marker-based predictions will be useful in developing high biomass yield prairie cordgrass germplasm.