Polymorphism of Cenchrus ciliaris L. a perennial grass of arid zones

Kharrat-Souissi, Amina; Baumel, Alex; Mseddi, Khalil; Torre, Franck; Chaieb, Mohamed

Polymorphism of Cenchrus ciliaris L. a perennial grass of arid zones

2011

Kharrat-Souissi, Amina | Baumel, Alex | Mseddi, Khalil | Torre, Franck | Chaieb, Mohamed

This study deals with the phenotypic polymorphism of twenty accessions of Cenchrus ciliaris L. (buffelgrass) collected in various climatic areas of Tunisia. Six seedlings per accession were cultivated according to a common garden experiment design, and 33 phenological or morphological variables were measured during one cycle of growth. The observed differences among accessions were not significant for the seedling stage, but they were significant for all other studied variables of the vegetative and reproductive growth, dry matter and habit type. The principal component analysis provided further support for the important fixed genetic polymorphism of this species. On the other hand, a hierarchical classification was used to classify accessions in four groups, but we did not observe a clear geographical pattern associated with these groups. In conclusion, our study revealed considerable genotypic variation for C. ciliaris across Tunisia, which could be preserved by the agamospermous system of reproduction. Finally, among the groups from hierarchical classification, Mezzouna-08 accession may be a good choice for the restoration of degraded Tunisian ecosystems, thanks to its high aboveground biomass productivity.

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