Camelina sativa is a promising oilseed crop used for dietary oil and as a biofuel feedstock. C. sativa is a highly adaptable, cool season crop that can be grown on marginal lands with minimal inputs, making it potentially suitable for growth in Northern Nevada and other cooler and drier semi-arid regions of North America. A five-year (2011 to 2015) field trial was conducted to evaluate the seed yield, oil content, and oil and biodiesel production potential of eight C. sativa cultivars in semi-arid regions of Northern Nevada. Columbia, Cheyenne, Calena, and Blaine Creek were ranked as the top four varieties based on the five-year study of mean seed yield, oil content, and estimated oil and biodiesel production values, although none of the cultivars were significant (p > 0.05). Overall, Columbia displayed the highest seed yield, harvest index, oil yield and potential biodiesel production of 910 kg ha⁻¹, 0.147, 273.4 kg ha⁻¹, and 86.4 L ha⁻¹, respectively, across five growing seasons. For each individual year across the eight cultivars, seed yield, oil content, oil and potential biodiesel production was highest in 2015, and lowest in 2012 and 2013 (the drier years). The seed yields of this study fall within the ranges of yields reported in both the irrigated and rainfed locations of the Western United States. Based on the seed yield, oil, and the estimated oil and biodiesel productivity reported in this study, C. sativa can be grown successfully with supplemental irrigation in semi-arid environments like Nevada.

Bermudagrass is a warm-season turfgrass commonly grown in drought-prone areas. Harnessing natural genetic variation available in germplasm is a principal strategy to enhance its resilience to drought stress. This study was carried out to assess the comparative performance of bermudagrass hybrids under drought conditions and their subsequent recovery following the drought period. A total of 48 hybrids, including 2 commercial cultivars, ‘Tifway’ and ‘TifTuf’, were established under optimum growth conditions in the greenhouse and then subjected to drought stress by withholding irrigation for four weeks. The dry-down experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with four replications. Turf color, visual quality, and active spectral reflectance data were collected weekly and used to assess the health and vigor of the hybrids during progression of the drought stress for four weeks and through recovery after rewatering. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences among the hybrids for color, visual quality, and spectral vegetation indices. A multivariate analysis grouped the hybrids into drought-tolerant with full recovery after rewatering, moderately tolerant, and susceptible to extended drought stress without recovery. These results showed the prevalence of genetic variation for drought tolerance and proved instrumental in the development of bermudagrass cultivars resilient to drought stress and improved water use efficiency.

The national average yield of Tef is low at 1.75 t ha^-1. This is partially due to lack of high yielding Tef genotypes for different Tef growing areas. Therefore, the present study was designed to develop high yielding, and desirable quality of improved Tef varieties suitable for high and optimum potential farming systems. Eight recombinant inbred lines (RILs) developed from a cross of DZ-01-353 x kaymurri plus two checks were laid out in a randomized complete block design using four replications in multi-environments for two years (2013 and 2014) to see the effect of genotypes, environments and GEI. ANOVA from additive main effect and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) for grain yield revealed highly significant (p<0.01) effect for genotypes, environments, and genotype by environment interaction (GEI. The effect of environment, genotypes and genotype by environment interaction accounted for 81.49, 3.98 and 14.15% of the total sum squares, respectively. A large sum of squares for environments indicated that the test environments were diverse with large differences among environmental means which causing most of the variation in grain yield. Therefore, results of combined data analysis across locations and over the years showed that variety DZ- Cr- 429 (RIL 125)/Negus/ performed better and stable across five locations over two years among tested genotypes. Thus, variety Negus was identified and released as best promising Tef variety for production in high and optimum potential tef growing areas in the country. This variety should be used in similar agro ecologies to increase grain yield productivity and ensure food security in the country.

Bermudagrass is a warm season turfgrass commonly grown in drought prone areas. Harnessing natural genetic variation available in germplasm is a principal strategy to enhance its resilience to drought stress. This study was carried out to assess the comparative performance of bermudagrass hybrids under drought conditions and their subsequent recovery following the drought period. A total of 48 hybrids including two commercial cultivars, ‘Tifway’ and ‘TifTuf’, were established under optimum growth conditions in the greenhouse and then subjected to drought stress by withholding irrigation for four weeks. The dry down experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with four replications. Turf color, visual quality, and active spectral re-flectance data were collected weekly and used to assess the health and vigor of the hybrids during progression of the drought stress for four weeks and through recovery after re-watering. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences among the hybrids for color, visual quality, and spectral vegetation indices. A multivariate analysis grouped the hybrids into a drought tolerant with full recovery after re-watering, moderately tolerant, and susceptible to extended drought stress without recovery. These results showed the prevalence of genetic diversity for drought tolerance that prove instrumental in the development of bermudagrass cultivars resilient to drought stress and improved water use efficiency.