Variation in Floral Morphology and Seed Production of Buffel and Rhodes Grass

The use of diversity implies knowing characteristics and traits of interest in genetic resources. In forages, the ability to produce seeds is essential to the persistence of cultivars in livestock systems. To study the floral variability and seed yield, 17 genotypes of Chloris gayana Kunth and 14 genotypes of Cenchrus ciliaris L. were evaluated. These genotypes were characterized considering floral morphology and total seed yield parameters. A randomized complete block design with four replications was used. In C. gayana, accessions 7757, 6631, 981 and 7757 presented the highest (P< 0.05) Number of Inflorescences per Plant (NIP, 26.43), number of Spikes per Inflorescence (S/I, 10.73), Weight of Thousand Seeds (WTS, 0.52 g) and Total Seed Production (TSP, 235.69 kg ha-1), respectively. In C. ciliaris, accessions 15687 (28.67) and 1098 (24.33) presented the highest values (P< 0.05) for NIP. Accessions 777 (151.33) and 6642 (150.67) had the highest (P< 0.05) Number of Seeds by Inflorescences (NSI) and genotypes 6652 (0.238 g), 15687 (0.207 g), 16660 (0.215 g) had the highest (P< 0.05) Weight of one Hundred Seeds (WHS). Finally, accessions 6652 (210.93) and 1098 (188.55) had the highest (P< 0.05) TSP. The genotypes of C. gayana and C. ciliaris indicated an important morphology variation. Likewise, higher seed production, which is associated with genetic variability, can be an attribute to be considered during the selection of materials in forage breeding programs, as a complement to traditional evaluation characteristics.