Morphological and nutricional diversity of Wolftail Grass (Muhlenbergia phleoides [Kunth] Columbus) populations in Chihuahua, Mexico

Abstract

Wolftail grass (Muhlenbergia phleoides [Kunth] Columbus) is a native forage resource from northern Mexico; however, its variability in terms of forage attributes is unknown. The objective of this study was to characterize the morphological and nutritional variability of 30 populations of wolftail grass in the state of Chihuahua. The characterization was carried out the second year of establishment through the morphological and nutritional variables. Morphological data were analyzed with multivariate techniques. For nutritional data, analysis of variance and comparison of Tukey means were performed. The first three PC (principal components) explained 82.38% of the total variation. Hierarchical cluster analysis identified four groups. In the nutritional analysis, the populations only presented differences (p < 0.05) in the CP variable. The variability that wolftail grass presented allows to infer that there is morphological diversity among populations of the state of Chihuahua; however, the nutritional variables did not show differences between the populations of this species.