Registration of ‘Sabine’ Dallisgrass

Abstract

‘Sabine’ dallisgrass (Paspalum dilatatum Poir.) (Reg. No. CV‐2, PI 655527) was released by the USDA‐ARS, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, and Texas AgriLife Research on 2 Sept. 2008. Sabine is phenotypically and cytologically different from common dallisgrass because it is a different P. dilatatum biotype, called the Uruguayan biotype. Sabine is a single plant selection from an off‐type plant that originated from the facultative apomictic accession PI 404826. It was selected because it usually produced more forage and was consistently more persistent under defoliation than common dallisgrass in multiyear forage evaluation plots in Louisiana and Texas. Its forage nutritive value is equivalent to that of common dallisgrass. Since common is the only dallisgrass biotype grown for forage throughout the southern United States, Sabine was released to provide livestock producers in the southeastern United States with a new, more productive, and more persistent dallisgrass option.