Description:
Nineteen accessions (PI 213875, PI 216747, PI 216748, PI 216751, PI 216754, PI216760, PI 216761, PI 216767, PI 216770, PI 216778, PI 216779, PI 216781, PI 216786, PI 421552, PI 421553, PI 476298, PI 476998, PI 635105, and PI 635106) were used to develop a F1 plant population (4760 plants). After culling the F1 plant population for plants susceptible to leaf rust, plants lacking high-pH tolerance, culm lodging; 476 plants remained. From the selected F1 plant population, seven little bluestem populations were defined using a cluster analysis: two populations that were identified as upright compact (UC; Springer, 2012). The UC-2 plant population consisted of 131 plants. These plants were moved to an isolation nursery where they were allowed to produce seed. A portion of the seed was used to produce a 1,000 plant population. Seed harvested from the 1,000 population was designated as ‘UC-2’ germplasm. The germplasm is primarily adapted to the USDA Hardiness Zone 6 through 7.