Get reliable rangeland science

Grasses ecologically and economically important. They represent one of the most common taxonomic groups in rangelands and constitute the main source of feed for livestock. Plains bristlegrass (Setaria macrostachya Kunth) is a native, high forage value grass that has been heavily grazed and greatly reduced in population. The objective was to estimate morphological variability of 44 populations of Plains bristlegrass in Chihuahua State. Individuals from each population were transplanted into field plots, under rain-fed conditions in a semiarid region. Two years later, nine morphological characteristics were measured in each population. Principal component and cluster analysis were applied to the data using Ward method. Overall plant height and foliage ranged from 49 to 96 and 20 to 63 cm, respectively. Stem density and thickness ranged from 12 to 67 cm and 0.2 to 0.5 cm, respectively. Dry matter had significant correlations with other variables such as stem density (r = 0.58, P ? 0.0001), plant height (r = 0.53, P ? 0.0002) and forage height (r = 0.48 , P ? 0.0009). First three principal components were responsible for 73.7% of total variation. Cluster analysis integrated five groups, based on the method of linkage WARD. Populations 253 from Villa Ahumada, 308 and 323 from Casas Grandes municipalities, showed the highest potential for forage production and have potential to be released as promissory cultivars for rangeland seeding programs.