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Gamma Ray Dosage and Mutation Breeding in St. Augustinegrass¹

Stolon pieces of St. Augustinegrass [Stenotaphrum secundatum (Walt.) Kuntze] were irradiated with gamma rays in an attempt to cause mutations. A practical dosage for most genotypes was 4,500 fads. This dosage caused considerable (50%) growth retardation and a mean survival of about 40% of single-node cuttings. However, ‘Bitterblue’ and another accession were entirely killed at 4,000 rads. At 4,500 rads, up to 7% recognizable mutants of accession FA-243 were obtained. This proportion resulted when irradiated cuttings were propagated clonally and observed for 1.5 years in replicated microplots. In addition, to morphological variants, a chimeral anthocyanin change was noticed. From this chimera arose a stable genotype with green stolons and white stigmas, whereas the source genotype (FA-243) had red stolons and purple stigmas. Associated reduction in fertility from 56 to 0.6% suggested that the mutation arose as a small chromosome deletion. Mutation breeding is effective in improving St. Augustinegrass when easily recognizable variants are needed.

Key Words: Anthocyanin • Chimera • Turf • Stenotaphrum secundatum (Walt.) Kuntze

² Assistant professor of ornamental horticulture, Univ. of Florida Agric. Res. Ctr., 3205 S. W. 70th Ave., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33314.

Received for publication July 25, 1979.

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