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Abstract

Guineagrass (Panicum maximum Jacq.) is an excellent forage grass. One of its major weaknesses is its seed shattering and low seed yield. Efforts to increase seed retention in guinea-grass have been unsuccessful due to the lack of genetic material having this characteristic and also to the difficulty encountered in the hybridization process. The reproduction of guineagrass is based on aposporous apomixis with pseudogamy. For the development of Panicum hybrids, we utilized facultative apomictics and two germplasm sources previously discovered. A possible hybrid was obtained using facultative apomictics PI 277901 and CIAT 673. Utilizing RAPD analyses, the following hybrids (2n=32) were verified: SPM-92 x PRPI 3622 and Tift-49 x PRPI 3622. Natural and hand-made crosses of paragrass (P. purpurascens Raddi) x klein-grass (P. coloratum L.) (2n=36) were also verified utilizing RAPD analyses. This study reports for the first time the existence of new Panicum hybrids including an interspecific hybrid of para x klein grass and the utilization of RAPD's as an excellent tool for the verification of the existence of hybrids in the Panicums.

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