‘Recovery’, a New Western Wheatgrass Cultivar with Improved Seedling Establishment on Rangelands

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‘Recovery’ western wheatgrass [Pascopyrum smithii (Rydb.) Barkworth & D. R. Dewy] (Reg. No. CV‐32, PI 660509) was released in December 2009 by the USDA‐ARS, the Engineer Research and Development Center of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the USDA‐NRCS. Recovery was developed for reseeding rangelands following severe disturbance, frequent fires, and soil erosion, and it was selected with emphasis on improved and faster seedling establishment. Recovery was evaluated as TC3, TC‐Rich, Army WWG, SERDP WWG, and NRCS‐9076517 and was developed as a synthetic cultivar using two cycles of recurrent selection for plant vigor, seed yield, and rate of seedling emergence from a deep planting depth. In field evaluations, Recovery had an increased frequency of seedlings during the establishment year, when averaged across eight locations, than ‘Arriba’, ‘Barton’, ‘Flintlock’, ‘Rodan’, and ‘Rosana’ western wheatgrasses. Recovery continued to have superior stand until 4–6 yr after planting, when due to their rhizomatous nature, all the western wheatgrasses had similar stand frequencies. Recovery western wheatgrass provides land managers with a new western wheatgrass cultivar possessing rapid establishment for use in areas that are frequently disturbed, such as military training lands. The use of Recovery will help reduce soil erosion and weed invasion following such disturbances.