I. Variation among populations

Abstract

Three New Zealand selections of paspalum were compared as spaced plants with 13 unselected New Zealand populations and 16 overseas lines. Characters assessed were productivity, growth habit, heading date, number of inflorescences, anther colour, and disease incidence. The 3 selections had consistently greater productivity, were more erect, were later flowering, and had greater numbers of inflorescences than all other lines. Most overseas lines were more productive than the unselected New Zealand populations. Productivity within lines was uniform, although a few plants with either substantially less or greater productivity occurred. Most plants had purple anthers, but one line was yellow anthered and a few off-type plants with different anther colour occurred in some other lines. The relationships between productivity, plant habit, ploidy level, and anther colour are discussed.