By Sharon Omahen
University of Georgia
Turf scientists at the University of Georgia are breeding new
varieties of centipede grass using germ plasm collected from the
grass’s homeland, China.
In 1999, Wayne Hanna, a researcher with the UGA College of
Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, spent 23 days in the
most rural areas of China collecting centipede samples.
Earl Elsner, former director of the Georgia Seed Development
Commission, accompanied Hanna. Their trip was funded by a $50,000
grant from The Turfgrass Group and Patten Seed Company.
Trip planned before doors closed
“We had been breeding new centipede varieties, but we needed more
germ plasm to build from,” he said. “When countries began having
restrictions for plant collection, I knew I’d better hurry up and
get over there before it became impossible to do so.”
Since the collection trip five years ago, Hanna has used the germ
plasm to develop two new experimental varieties, a winter-hardy
centipede and a shade-tolerant centipede.
The shade-tolerant variety, which can withstand 40-percent
continuous shade, should be available to the public in three to
five years.
Centipede grass first came to the United States in 1918, Hanna
said. It’s known for its ability to grow on sandy and poor soils.
“It will grow where very little else will grow,” Hanna said.
While in China, Hanna relied heavily on advice from the local
people.
“We flew into cities in southern China, and for each collection
trip we would work our way by car 50 to 100 miles in each
direction from the city,” he said. “We’d stop and talk to the
locals and follow their directions through the rice patties.”
Buffalos made search challenging
Even though centipede is native to China, it was a chore for the
researchers to find samples.
“The buffalo eat the centipede seed heads down. So we had to
search for samples under small trees, in thorny bushes and on
cliffs where they can’t reach,” he said. “We were able to find it
along streambanks and trails and in rice patty levees where
buffalo walk. Centipede grass was scattered all over China by the
buffalos.”
The researchers targeted collection sites in shady areas and
along the coastal salt marshes. “These samples can be used to
breed new varieties with shade and drought tolerance,” Hanna
said.
Each night Hanna turned his hotel room into a makeshift lab. He
dried the grass samples on the lampshade, threshed the grass and
careful placed the samples in labeled collection bags.
These collection bags were later inspected at the airport, taken
to Washington, D.C., and returned to Hanna at his UGA lab in
Tifton, Ga.
Germ plasm now available to all scientists
The UGA research team collected centipede samples from 53 sites
in China. They were helped on the trip by Nanjiang Botanical
Gardens researcher Jianxiu Liu, with whom they shared the
collected samples.
“We now have germ plasm for our research and for the (U.S.
Department of Agriculture) national seed bank,” Hanna said. “And
we have the Chinese people to thank for the success of our trip.
They were very warm, cordial and friendly.
“Earl (Elsner) taught our hosts to say ‘goober’ in English
because all the meals included fried peanuts,” Hanna said. “And
they served us the best-tasting fried peanuts I’ve ever had.”
