Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers. is frequently used as turf and to cross with C. transvaalensis Burtt-Davy in the creation of F1 hybrid cultivars that are widely used on home lawns, golf courses, and sports fields worldwide. However, molecular information associated with adaptive and morphological traits in this species is limited. Accordingly, the objectives of this study were to identify genomic regions associated with establishment rate, spring green-up, drought response, leaf length and width, and stem internode length and width. In this study, we used a ‘A12359’ common bermudagrass high-density linkage map constructed with 3,544 markers. A total of 130 first-generation selfed progeny were evaluated in the field for two seasons for adaptive and morphological traits. A total of 36 genomic regions were identified to be associated with morphological, adaptive, and reproductive traits . The results provide important genetic resources towards understanding the molecular information associated with target traits as well as provide a foundation for using marker-assisted selection in bermudagrass breeding.
