Restoration practitioners have many seed material choices when restoring plant communities, and for some species, cultivars may be the most affordable and accessible material available. However, the process of plant selection and commercial seed production can limit trait variability critical to survival and persistence in heterogeneous environments. Several studies have shown impacts of plant selection and commercial production on trait values and variation, particularly in aboveground traits. Yet researchers rarely assess impacts on root traits in wild-collected material relative to cultivars. This is a critical gap, especially in arid environments where root traits play a key role in plant survival. To compare root and shoot trait values and variability between wild and cultivar accessions, we grew seedlings of three wild-collected accessions and three cultivars of Pseudoroegneria spicata (the cultivars ‘Whitmar’ and ‘Goldar’, and “selected germplasm” ‘P-7’- selected from progeny resulting from crossing among 25 populations in a nursery. We grew the plants in stressful conditions in sand in growth chamber for four weeks. We harvested the plants and compared trait variation and average trait values between collection types of wild-collected versus cultivar for four shoot and four root traits. We found that wild-collected accessions had greater variation in two root traits and one shoot trait, whereby trait values differed marginally significantly by collection type for three root traits and one shoot trait. Specifically, wild-collected plants had 51% more root tips on average, and higher survival compared to cultivars. These results show the importance of understanding differences in root trait values and variation among accessions when selecting material for restoration use.

Last modified

• 03/27/2020

Creator

• Alicia J. Foxx
• Andrea T. Kramer

DOI

• https://doi.org/10.21985/n2-0y5a-s852

Subject

• Wild and cultivar plant variation

Language

• English

Keyword

• allocation
• seed source
• intraspecific variation
• Pseudoroegneria spicata
• lateral roots
• survival

Resource type

• Dataset

Rights statement

• No Known Copyright