Potential of Australian Bermudagrasses (\u3cem\u3eCynodon\u3c/em\u3e spp.) for Pasture in Subtropical Australia

In Australia, little work has been carried out on the improvement of tropical or subtropical pastures in recent years. There seems to be an increasing demand for pastures that can withstand heavy grazing, while producing high yields of high quality forage in the humid subtropical regions of Australia. Most graziers, who live in these areas, have small acreages, which they graze intensively. Cynodon spp. represent a potential source of grasses with these attributes. This study will evaluate the pasture potential of a large number of bermudagrass (Cynodon spp.) ecotypes collected from across Australia

Ecoturf - a case study on genetic variation and agronomic potential of bermudagrass (cynodon spp.) germplasm collected from Australian biodiversity

Australian Cynodon germplasm has not been comprehensively exploited for bermudagrass improvement. In this paper we will describe ‘EcoTurf’ a four year (2007-2011) project to develop water and nutrient use efficient bermudagrasses from Australian biodiversity. We describe the sampling strategies of Australian biodiversity, the physiological and molecular tools used to characterise the collected germplasm of over 1000 ecotypes and detail some of the important outcomes