Growth Characteristics of Zoysiagrass Hybrids and Indirect Lipid Peroxidation Screening for Tolerance to Drought or Salt Stress

Eun-Ji Bae¹ Chung-Yeol Kim¹ Jun-Hyuck Yoon¹ Eon-ju Jin¹ Young-Sun Kim² Geung-Joo Lee^3,*

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Abstract

This study was carried out to investigate the characteristics of 242 zoysiagrasses collected in Korean peninsula and their hybrids for zoysiagrass breeding. Based on characteristics of leaf texture, growth rate, shoot density and emergence of inflorescence, thirty-six selections were initially determined from those collections over two years. A total of 101 cross combinations using three zoysiagrasses of Korean lawngrass (Z. japonica), manilagrass (Z. matrella), seashore zoysiagrass (Z. sinica) were constructed, and finally 32 F1 hybrids out of 522 progenies were selected based on growth rate and shoot density for this study. Progenies derived from manilagrass as a female parent tended to be relatively shorter height and higher shoot density, while height to 1st leaf explained as close-mowing tolerance, which is positively correlated with plant height and leaf length, appeared to be higher in those progenies from crosses among Korean lawngrasses or seashore zoysiagrass. Except for leaf width, shoot density was found to be negatively correlated with plant height, leaf length, and height to 1^st leaf significantly. As an indirect indicator of lipid peroxidation, leaf malondialdehyde (MDA) content was quantified in those 32 hybrids subjected to drought and salt treatments, and two candidates from the MDA analysis were compared with reference cultivars. Contrary to expectation, it was found to be non-significantly correlated between MDA contents from drought or salt stress, indicating that other phenotypic features rather than MDA parameter solely are needed to be explored for zoysiagrass screening in the cultivar development of drought or salt tolerance.

Figures & Tables

Fig. 1. Growth of the selected zoysiagrass hybrids subjected to drought (A) and salt (B) stress.