Alternative hosts increase the difficulty of disease management in crops because these alternate hosts provide additional sources of primary inoculum or refuges for diversity in the pathogen gene pool. Agropyron cristatum (crested wheatgrass), Bromus inermis (smooth bromegrass), Pascopyrum smithii (western wheatgrass), Stipa viridula (green needlegrass), and Thinopyrum intermedium (intermediate...

Crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum L.) breeding programs aim to develop later maturing cultivars for extending early spring grazing in Western Canada. Plant maturity is a complex genetic trait, and little is known about genes associated with late maturity in this species. An attempt was made using RNA-Seq to profile the transcriptome of crested wheatgrass maturity and to analyze differenti...

Application of strategies induced a heavy metal tolerant turfgrass is necessary for cultivation management. Water and soil contamination with heavy metals is an increasing concern for the human and environment health. This study was conducted to evaluate the mitigation of environmental Cd toxicity through landscape turfgrasses as affected by two arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) species and to...

Root architecture traits are an important component for improving water stress adaptation. However, selection for aboveground traits under favorable environments in modern cultivars may have led to an inadvertent loss of genes and novel alleles beneficial for adapting to environments with limited water. In this study, we elucidate the physiological and molecular consequences of introgressing an...

Broom snakeweed (snakeweed) is a native range shrub found throughout semiarid rangelands of the western United States, which increases and dominates plant communities after disturbances such as overgrazing, drought, or wildfire. The objective of this study was to compare the ability of selected grass species and prostrate kochia to restrict establishment and growth of snakeweed seedlings in pot...

Two species of Psilochalcis (Hymenoptera: Chalcididae) wasps occurring in the Great Basin region western United States were sampled from three locations central Utah (USA) over a two-year period using Malaise traps. Each location is composed four contiguous habitat types: pinyon/juniper (Pinus edulis or P. monophylla and Juniperus osteosperma), sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata), cheatgrass (Brom...

Root architecture traits are an important component for improving water stress adaptation. However, selection for aboveground traits under favorable environments in modern cultivars may have led to an inadvertent loss of genes and novel alleles beneficial for adapting to environments with limited water. In this study, we elucidate the physiological and molecular consequences of introgressing an...