the top two photos are of intermediate wheat grass i received from the land institute and the second two are of forage variety wheat grass i planted in 2010...the seeds in both sets of seed heads seem to be nearly the same size but if you look at it the wheat grass from kansas has a far greater number of seeds per head...the result no doubt, of the selection process at the land institute...it will be interesting to compare a few traits as the seed heads mature...aside form seed size and yield per plant and per seed head , i am curious about the relative ease ( or difficulty ) of shattering... i am wondering how much impact the artificial selection is having on plant behavior in many respects...the bottom photo is a comparison...the forage variety is on the right and the selected variety is not the left...admittedly the forage variety is in a much denser stand since it has had there years of growth and that my be inhibiting its vertical growth, but the selected variety is much taller after only nine months in the garden and its much deeper green hue indicates it is taking up more nitrogen than the forage variety...perhas a dressing of compost for the forage grass is in order just to see if it has an impact...it will be an interesting summer.
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