Zoysiagrass plant named ‘XZ 14069’

Abstract

XZ 14069 is a medium to dark green perennial zoysiagrass cultivar with medium-fine texture low incidence of large patch disease and aggressive stoloniferous growth producing high density turf performance ideal for low-management landscaping. It is distinguishable from other cultivars by medium-fine texture, plant architecture and characteristics such as high drought tolerance, turf quality, disease resistance and aggressive establishment from minimal input. XZ 14069 shows persistence under an array of climates including warm-temperate, warm-humid and hot-arid. XZ 14069 is also genetically distinct from other zoysiagrass cultivars currently in the marketplace known to the Inventor. XZ 14069 exhibits very low fertility and no inflorescences have been observed.

Claims

1. A new and distinct cultivar of Zoysia plant named XZ 14069, substantially as illustrated and described herein.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The photographs in the drawings were made using conventional techniques and show the colors as true as reasonably possible by conventional photography. Photographs were taken of plant materials grown in greenhouses for eight months. During this period, plants were under daily watering, monthly fertilization, and no mowing. Colors in the photographs may differ slightly from the color values cited in the detailed botanical description, which accurately describe the colors of the new Zoysia japonica x Zoysia matrella grass XZ 14069.

(2) FIG. 1 is a color photograph of stolons of a typical specimen of the claimed plant.

(3) FIG. 2 is a color photograph of a stolon of a typical specimen of the claimed plant.

(4) FIG. 3 is a color photograph of leaf blades of a typical specimen of the claimed plant.

(5) FIG. 4 is a color photograph of leaf hairs of a typical specimen of the claimed plant.

(6) FIGS. 5A-5B are two color photographs of a typical plot of the claimed plant. FIG. 5A is a far view: FIG. 5B is a close view.

(7) FIG. 6 is a data graphic tabulating cumulative turf performance index (TPI) values. The TPI value refers to the number of times a treatment occurred in the top statistical group across all parameters, for all five locations. The maximum possible turf performance index number for each location is as follows: Indiana (13), North Carolina (12), Georgia (7), Arizona (5), and California (4). Treatments with an X indicate the entry or check was not planted at that location.

(8) FIG. 7 shows an image of a UPGMA dendrogram of 34 Zoysiagrass commercial cultivars and XZ 14069 generated using 171 simple sequence repeat alleles.

(9) FIGS. 8A-8B show images of Principal Coordinate (PCO) analysis 2D (FIG. 8A) and 3D (FIG. 8B) plots of 32 Zoysiagrass commercial cultivars and XZ 14069 generated using 171 simple sequence repeat alleles. XZ 14069 and its two parents are circled. XZ 14070 is a sister line of XZ 14069.

(10) FIG. 9 shows images of PCR amplification of 32 zoysiagrass commercial cultivars and XZ 14069 with simple sequence repeat primer pairs za03k 15 and GB-X JM-025 showing unique SSR profiles for XZ 14069.

DETAILED BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW VARIETY

(11) The following is a detailed description of the botanical characteristics of a new and distinct cultivar of Zoysia plant known by the cultivar name XZ 14069. All colors cited herein refer to The Royal Horticulture Society (RHS) Colour Chart designations (The Royal Horticultural Society, London, Flower Council of Holland 1986 edition) except where general terms of ordinary dictionary significance are used. Where dimensions, sizes, colors, and other characteristics are given, it is to be understood that such characteristics are approximations or averages set forth as accurately as practicable.

(12) This invention relates to a new and unique cultivar of perennial zoysiagrass plant (Zoysia japonica x Zoysia matrella) designated as XZ 14069. XZ 14069 is an F1 hybrid that was produced in Raleigh, NC in fall 2014 by crossing cultivar Meyer [unpatented Zoysia japonica Steud. ] as the female parent with pollen of cultivar Victoria [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,135P described therein as Zoysia matrella (L.) Merr.; noted as a hybrid Zoysia japonica x Zoysia matrella per DNA marker analysis as described in Kimball et al. 2013 Crop Science 53(1):285-295]. Crosses of Meyer by Victoria [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,135P] were manually made in 2014 under greenhouses conditions. When Meyer inflorescences were ready for pollination, pollen from Victoria [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,135P] was collected in petri dishes and pollen grains were spread on the stigmas using a brush. To avoid pollen contamination, stigmas were covered with a glycine shoot bag after pollination (five days). Pollinated flowers reach maturity after four weeks. Harvested seeds were germinated in petri dishes for six weeks. Seedlings were transferred to soil and later to greenhouses where they reached maturity in azalea pots (6 in. diameter4 in. tall). XZ 14069 was first vegetatively propagated in Raleigh, NC in 2015 by tillers, rhizomes and stolons, and rooting them in potting soil. Asexually reproduced plants of XZ 14069 have remained stable and true to type through at least 7 successive cycles of vegetative propagation. XZ 14069 has been determined to be tetraploid (2n=4x=40).

(13) XZ 14069 has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions: therefore, the phenotype may vary under different environmental conditions such as season, temperature, light intensity, day length, cultural conditions, and the like, without however, any variance in the genotype. The following morphological measurements were collected on XZ 14069 plants grown in greenhouse conditions for eight months. Leaf blades: Length.21.87 mm. Width.1.54 mm. Shape.Keeled. Apex.Pointed. Aspect.Concave. Margin.Smooth. Auricle.Absent. Collar.Broad continues with hairy edges. Sheath.Overlapping. Leaf bud.Rolled. Ligule type.Short fringe of hairs. Adaxial surface.Texture: moderate trichomes. Color: RHS 137A: Green-Group. Abaxial surface.Texture: smooth. Color: RHS 137B: Green-Group. Venation.Parallel. Inflorescence: No inflorescences have been observed under greenhouse conditions since its original development. Under field conditions, data for North Carolina reported 0% seedhead density for both 2020 and 2021 (as tabulated in Tables 1-7 below). Stolons: Internode length.11.99 mm. Internode color.RHS 146C: Yellow-Green-Group. Internode diameter.1.46 mm Apical meristem. Color.RHS 146B: Yellow-Green-Group. Node diameter.2.07 mm. Node color.RHS 146C: Yellow-Green-Group. Rhizomes: First internode.length 7.66mm, width 1.3 mm. Second internode.length 9.15 mm, width 1.2 mm. Third internode.length 11.62 mm, width 1.0 mm. Node width.1.95 mm. Internode color.RHS 161B: grayed-yellow group. Node color.RHS 161A: grayed-yellow group.

(14) Plant height average of XZ 14069 is 110 mm in pots grown under greenhouse conditions. Plant height under field conditions depends on the standard protocols for mowing set by each sod farm. Data has not been collected.

(15) FIGS. 1-5 provide photographic images of the claimed plant. In particular, FIG. 1 shows an example of stolon of a typical specimen of XZ 14069; FIG. 2 shows an example of stolon thickness of a typical specimen of XZ 14069; FIG. 3 shows an example of leaf blades of a typical specimen of XZ 14069; FIG. 4 shows an example of leaf hairs of a typical specimen of XZ 14069; and FIGS. 5A-5B show examples of a plot (FIG. 5A, far view; FIG. 5B, close view) of a typical specimen of ZX-14069.

(16) Morphological analysis of XZ 14069 and comparison with other Zoysia cultivars. XZ 14069 was morphologically compared to commercial cultivars Meyer (female parent; unpatented), Victoria (male parent: [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,135P]), El Toro [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 5,845P],

(17) Compadre [unpatented], Palisades [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,515P], Diamond [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,636P] and JaMur [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 13,178P2]. Analyses were performed in Raleigh, NC, using 8 month old plants. SUNGRO HOTICULTURE MM830-F3B 2.8 Cu ft soil enriched with 50-60% sphagnum peat moss, softwood bark, perlite and dolomite limestone was used for propagation. Plant material was propagated into 12.5 cm-diameter by 8.9 cm-deep pots for a total of three pots per entry. Plant materials were established in June 2022 and grown through January 2023 inside a greenhouse. Daily temperatures ranged from 20 to 30 C. Pots were fertilized every 45 days using Turf Builder Southern Lawn Food (32-0-10) from Scotts. Watering was performed as needed, four to five times per week. Light requirements included natural sunlight only. Pots were left without mowing to trigger stolon development around the pots. In February of 2023, a digital caliper (6 inches precision measuring tool) was used to collect data from morphological traits. Morphological measurements were taken on internode length, internode diameter and node diameter. From each of the three pots per cultivar, nine measurements were collected per trait. Internode diameter and length were measured using the space between the fourth and fifth nodes, while the stolon node diameter was measured at the fourth node. Leaf length and width were collected from the third youngest leaf. In addition, length of the first leaf at the apical meristem was measured separately. XZ 14069 did not produce inflorescences. Collected data were analyzed using LSD (P0.05) in R.

(18) Means followed by the same letter are not significantly different at P=0.05.

(19) TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Internode length of zoysiagrass commercial cultivars, measured under greenhouses conditions. Internode N Entry Length (mm) Group 1 Compadre 30.93 a [unpatented] 2 Diamond 8.56 d [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,636P] 3 El Toro 19.88 bc [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 5,845P] 4 JaMur 23.78 b [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 13,178P2] 5 XZ 14069' 11.99 d 6 Meyer 16.90 c [unpatented] 7 Palisades 16.64 c [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,515P] 8 Victoria 11.50 d [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,135P]

(20) TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Internode diameter of zoysiagrass commercial cultivars, measured under greenhouses conditions. Internode N Entry Diameter (mm) Group 1 Compadre 1.45 b [unpatented] 2 Diamond 0.67 d [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,636P] 3 El Toro 1.77 a [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 5,845P] 4 JaMur 1.54 b [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 13,178P2] 5 XZ 14069 1.46 b 6 Meyer 1.39 b [unpatented] 7 Palisades 1.49 b [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,515P] 8 Victoria 1.20 c [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,135P]

(21) TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 Node diameter of zoysiagrass commercial cultivars, measured under greenhouses conditions. Node Diameter N Entry (mm) Group 1 Compadre 2.47 ab [unpatented] 2 Diamond 1.08 d [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,636P] 3 El Toro 2.83 a [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 5,845P] 4 JaMur 2.35 b [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 13,178P2] 5 XZ 14069 2.07 bc 6 Meyer 2.15 b [unpatented] 7 Palisades 2.48 ab [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,515P] 8 Victoria 1.69 c [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,135P]

(22) TABLE-US-00004 TABLE 4 Leaf blade length of zoysiagrass commercial cultivars, measured under greenhouses conditions. Leaf Blade N Entry Length (mm) Group 1 Compadre 23.98 b [unpatented] 2 Diamond 11.96 c [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,636P] 3 El Toro 22.99 b [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 5,845P] 4 JaMur 32.46 a [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 13,178P2] 5 XZ 14069 21.87 b 6 Meyer 22.85 b [unpatented] 7 Palisades 18.92 b [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,515P] 8 Victoria 21.54 b [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,135P]

(23) TABLE-US-00005 TABLE 5 Leaf blade width of zoysiagrass commercial cultivars, measured under greenhouses conditions. Leaf Blade N Entry Width (mm) Group 1 Compadre 4.08 a [unpatented] 2 Diamond 1.58 de [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,636P] 3 El Toro 3.79 ab [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 5,845P] 4 JaMur 3.72 b [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 13,178P2] 5 XZ 14069 1.54 e 6 Meyer 2.46 c [unpatented] 7 Palisades 3.50 b [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,515P] 8 Victoria 1.86 d [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,135P]

(24) TABLE-US-00006 TABLE 6 Leaf sheath length of zoysiagrass commercial cultivars, measured under greenhouses conditions. Leaf Sheath N Entry Length (mm) Group 1 Compadre 9.97 a [unpatented] 2 Diamond 4.27 f [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,636P] 3 El Toro 7.48 d [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 5,845P] 4 JaMur 9.16 ab [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 13,178P2] 5 XZ 14069 6.18 e 6 Meyer 8.24 bcd [unpatented] 7 Palisades 7.69 cd [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,515P] 8 Victoria 8.90 abc [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,135P]

(25) TABLE-US-00007 TABLE 7 First apical leaf length of zoysiagrass commercial cultivars, measured under greenhouses conditions. First Apical Leaf N Entry Length (mm) Group 1 Compadre 27.80 a [unpatented] 2 Diamond 8.07 d [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,636P] 3 El Toro 12.73 cd [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 5,845P] 4 JaMur 12.79 cd [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 13,178P2] 5 XZ 14069 18.20 b 6 Meyer 16.30 bc [unpatented] 7 Palisades 11.42 cd [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,515P] 8 Victoria 10.13 d [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,135P]

(26) Low-input Trials in Multiple Climates: 24 zoysiagrass lines and commercial cultivars Chisholm [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 30,653P3], Meyer [unpatented], Empire [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,466P], JaMur [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 13,178P2], and Zenith [unpatented] were evaluated for performance under low-maintenance regimes across different climates (Table 8).

(27) TABLE-US-00008 TABLE 8 Site information for low-input zoysiagrass trials. North Indiana Carolina Georgia Arizona California Location, West Raleigh Tifton Stanfield Escondido City Lafayette Latitude 4026' 3544' 3128' 3255' 335' and 31N; 18N; 30N; 23N; 26N; longitude 8655' 7840' 8331' 11156' 1170' 47W 39W 34W 17W 24W Soil type Silt loam Sandy Loamy Sandy Sandy loam sand loam loam Climate Warm Warm Warm Hot arid, Arid, classi- temperate, temperate, temperate, desert, hot steppe, fication.sup.a no dry no dry no dry summer hot dry season, season, season, (BWh) summer, hot hot hot cool summer summer summer wet (Cfa) (Cfa) (Cfa) winter, (BSk) USDA 5b 7b 8b 9b 10a plant (26.1 to (15 to (12.2 to (3.9 to (1.1 to hardiness 23.3 C.) 12.2 C.) 9.4 C.) 1.1 C.) 1.7 C.) zone.sup.b .sup.aFrom Kppen-Geiger climate map, retrieved from koeppen-geiger.vuwien.ac.at/present.htm. .sup.bAverage annual extreme minimum temperature in parentheses and USDA plant hardiness zones as defined by USDA.

(28) The colder continental climate for the Indiana site led to greater winterkill during the 2018-2019 winter season. XZ 14069 was not bred for cold tolerance and suffered heavy winterkill damage in year one. However, it was able to recover in year two and ranked in the top group of significance for six out of the 13 traits evaluated. In North Carolina, winter injury was generally not as severe as Indiana. XZ 14069 was the top ranked line, having a turf performance index (TPI) of 10 out of 12. In Georgia, which represented a warm-humid climate, XZ 14069 obtained a TPI of 4 out of 7. In California and Arizona, which represented warm-dry climates, XZ 14069 was again one of the top performing lines. Turf performance values for XZ 14069 were 5 (out of 5) and 4 (out of 4) for Arizona and California, respectively. When taking into consideration all sites combined, XZ 14069 emerges as the line with a highest combined TPI across locations of 29 as compared to 24 for the second highest line (FIG. 6). Furthermore, it was one of only two lines that exhibited stable performance across climates.

(29) XZ 14069 was submitted to a low-input warm-season species trial which aims at testing performance of entries under reduced fertilization and very limited irrigation. The trial is being evaluated at Jay, FL (FL3); Citra, FL (FL4); Starkville, MS (MS1); Raleigh, NC (NC1): Las Cruces, NM (NM1); Stillwater, OK (OK1); College Station, TX (TX2); and Logan, UT (UT1).

(30) While Zoysia species have been found to have fewer major diseases than other turfgrasses, they are very susceptible to large patch, caused by the fungal pathogen Rhizoctonia solani Kuhn. Among warm-season turfgrasses, zoysiagrass is one of the most susceptible to the disease. The species often sustain serious damage and recovery can take several weeks or months. Development of cultivars with genetic resistance to the fungus is the most effective means for management of large patch. XZ 14069 was evaluated for large patch resistance under controlled environmental conditions at a phytotron in Raleigh, NC. Resistant cultivar Diamond [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,636P] was used as a reference as well as cultivars Meyer [unpatented] and Zeon [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 13,166P2]. Plugs of all individuals were grown in Styrofoam cups filled with calcined clay for 2-3 months until fully established. At the time, cups were arranged in a Randomized Complete Block Design with two replications in a walk-in growth chamber at the phytotron. Large patch inoculations were performed by placing 8-R. solani infected rye grain in the crown region of each plant. Plants were kept at 20/18 C. with >75% relative humidity to promote infection. Disease severity was evaluated every three days for 21 days using the Horsfall-Barratt scale (Horsfall and Barratt 1945 Phytopathology 35:655; Bock et al. 2010 Crit Rev in Plant Sciences 29(2):59-107)). Two runs of inoculations with two reps each were conducted.

(31) TABLE-US-00009 TABLE 9 Large patch disease incidence caused by Rhizoctonia solani anastomosis group 202 LP. Turf Quality N Entry (TQ) groups 1 Meyer 6.5 a [unpatented] 2 Zeon 6.3 a [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 13,166P2] 3 Diamond 5 b [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,636P] 4 XZ 14069 5 b

(32) DNA Fingerprinting. In order to demonstrate that XZ 14069 is a unique genotype and genetically different from all major zoysiagrass cultivars currently on the market known to the Inventor, simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were used to generate DNA fingerprints of these materials. Thirty-four cultivars (Table 10) and XZ 14069 were genotyped with 19 SSR primer pairs (Table 11). A total of 19 loci were amplified (one locus per primer pair). The number of alleles per locus ranged between 3 and 16 for a total of 171 alleles analyzed (Table 11). Levels of polymorphism among the materials analyzed were comparable to those found in previous studies (Kimball et al. 2013 Crop Science 53(1): 285-295: Moore et al. 2017 Crop Science 57:S-1-S-12). Genetic similarity values were calculated for all pairwise genotype combinations according to Dice (Dice, L. R. 1945 Ecology 26: 297-302). Dice similarities were then used to construct a dendrogram using the UPGMA (Sokal and Michener 1958 A statistical method for evaluating systematic relationships. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 28: 1409-1438) clustering procedure in order to assess genetic relationships among genotypes. Additionally, a principal coordinate analysis (PCO) was performed for the same purpose.

(33) Genetic similarity values (Sij) for XZ 14069 and each of the cultivars tested ranged from 0.13 to 0.60. The average genetic similarity between XZ 14069 and each of the other cultivars (Sij= 0.32) is the same as the overall average among all other cultivars (Table 12). XZ 14069 is closest to cultivar Meyer (Sij=0.60), one of its parents. However, this distance is sufficiently low to obtain adequate separation among these cultivars as seen in the dendrogram (FIG. 7) and the PCO plots (FIGS. 8A-8B). Only two SSR primers, za03k15 and GB-X JM-025, were sufficient to separate XZ 14069 from all other cultivars tested (FIG. 9). The SSR data presented here provides further evidence that XZ 14069 is a unique genotype.

(34) TABLE-US-00010 TABLE 10 List of genotypes used for comparison of genetic similarity between XZ 14069 and major commercial cultivars of zoysiagrass. Confirmed Num- Species Species ber Genotype Designation Designation* 1 XZ 14069 Z. japonica x Z. matrella 2 Belair Zoysia japonica Z. japonica [unpatented] 3 Carrizo Zoysia japonica [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 17,808] 4 Cashmere Zoysia matrella Z. matrella [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 6,529] 5 Cavalier Zoysia matrella Z. japonica x [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,778P] Z. matrella 6 Chinese Common Zoysia japonica Z. japonica [unpatented] 7 Chisholm Zoysia japonica [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 30,653P3] 8 Compadre Zoysia japonica Z. japonica [unpatented] 9 Crowne Zoysia japonica Z. japonica x [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,570] Z. matrella 10 Cutlass Zoysia japonica [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 25,380] 11 Diamond Zoysia matrella Z. matrella [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,636P] 12 El Toro Zoysia japonica Z. japonica x [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 5,845P] Z. matrella 13 Emerald Z. japonica x Z. japonica x [unpatented] Z. pacifica Z. matrella 14 Empire Zoysia japonica Z. japonica x [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,466] Z. matrella 15 Empress Zoysia japonica Z. japonica x [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,495] Z. matrella 16 Geo Z. japonica x [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 27,051P3] Z. pacifica 17 GNZ Zoysia japonica Z. japonica x [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 7,074] Z. matrella 18 Himeno Zoysia japonica Z. japonica [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 13,267P3] 19 Innovation Zoysia japonica [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 31,464P3] 20 JaMur Zoysia japonica Z. japonica x [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 13,178P2] Z. matrella 21 Matrella Zoysia matrella Z. japonica x [unpatented] Z. matrella 22 Meyer Zoysia japonica Z. japonica [unpatented] 23 Palisades Zoysia japonica Z. japonica x [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,515P] Z. matrella 24 Pristine Zoysia matrella Z. matrella [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 18,415P3] 25 Rollmaster Zoysia matrella Z. japonica x [unpatented] Z. matrella 26 Royal Z. japonica x Z. japonica x [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 14,395] Z. matrella Z. matrella 27 Serene Zoysia japonica Z. japonica x [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 14,175P2] Z. matrella 28 Southern Gem Zoysia japonica Z. japonica x [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 15,218P2] Z. matrella 29 Toccoa Green Z. japonica x Z. matrella [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 18,405] Z. pacifica 30 Ultimate Flora Zoysia matrella Z. matrella [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 23,716P3] 31 Victoria Zoysia japonica Z. japonica x [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,135P] Z. matrella 32 Y2 Zoysia japonica Z. japonica x [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 17,824P2] Z. matrella 33 Zenith Zoysia japonica Z. japonica [unpatented] 34 Zeon Zoysia matrella Z. japonica x [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 13,166P2] Z. matrella 35 Zorro Zoysia matrella Z. japonica x [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 14,130] Z. matrella *As determined by simple sequence repeat (SSR) analysis in Kimball et al. (2013)

(35) TABLE-US-00011 TABLE11 Summarystatisticsforsimplesequencerepeat(SSR)primersusedtoassess geneticrelatednessamong'XZ14069'and34zoysiagrasscommercialcultivars. Primer SEQ SEQ No.of Pair Primer ID ID alleles No. Name Forward NO: Reverse NO: amplified 1 za01p11 CACGACGTTGTAAA 1 TGCGCTTTCTA 2 14 ACGACTCCGCTACC GAGATCTTC AAGTAATCACT 2 za03k14 CACGACGTTGTAAA 3 TGATTGAACA 4 12 ACGACAGGACCAGT GAAAATTCAC GAACATAGTGG C 3 a02o06 CACGACGTTGTAAA 5 GCAATAAACA 6 5 ACGACGATTGAAGC ACTCTCTTCCT TCATGTCTATGTG C 4 b02c06 CACGACGTTGTAAA 7 CCTCGCTATGA 8 7 ACGACCAGTTGCTG GTGGTCTAC CTAAGGATTCT 5 b02g05 CACGACGTTGTAAA 9 ACCTGAGGAG 10 13 ACGACGGAGCATAT GACCAGAG ATGGATGCATT 6 b03g12 CACGACGTTGTAAA 11 TTGCTCTCACT 12 16 ACGACGTTCACAGT CCAAAGGA TCAAGAAAGCC 7 b06j18 CAAATGAGCGTCCA 13 GTTGATGCCAC 14 11 TTTC AGACAAAG 8 b07i05 CACGACGTTGTAAA 15 GTTGCCTCTTT 16 10 ACGACATGGAATTA CATACTTGTG ATCTTCTCCCTG 9 b01b12 GCTAGTGTTTGTTGA 17 AACTTGAGCGT 18 7 TGACTTG GCTATGC 10 zb01b13 GCATATCAGTGAAA 19 TTATGCTCGCA 20 6 AGGAGC CAAGAGTC 11 zb01c23a CAAGAGGAGTTTGG 21 TCAGTCCCTCA 22 9 GCTC AGGAAATTA 12 zb01d04 AGTAGTGTTTGGAA 23 ACAGTAGCTTG 24 15 TCTTCCG TTTCCTCTCTG 13 GB- AGGTCGGAGATGGA 25 CCCGCCTCATG 26 6 ZJM-025 GAGC ATAAATG 14 GB- GCTTGCAGGATAAG 27 CATGCATAAAT 28 6 ZJM-051 GGGA GTGGGGG 15 GB- CGTTGATATCGAAC 29 ACCGTCGAGC 30 3 ZJM-136 CGGA ACTAGCAA 16 a01a07 ATTCCTGATCATCTG 31 AATTACTGCCA 32 9 AGACTTC TTTCTGGC 17 a03f03 ATCAAGGTAACAAG 33 GAGAAGGACG 34 7 ATCACGA TAACGTAACAA 18 b01c16 AGGACAAGTGAGGC 35 AAAGGTCAGTC 36 9 AGTAGA TCCGTCC 19 b08k21 GAGAACGACGTCCT 37 ACTTCGCACAC 38 6 GGAC AGAGAAGAC Total 171 Average 9.00 Min 3 Max 16

(36) TABLE-US-00012 TABLE 12 Dice genetic similarities among XZ 14069 and 34 selected zoysiagrass commercial cultivars estimated with 19 SSR primer pairs. XZ 14069 Compadre [unpatented] 0.39 Meyer [unpatented] 0.60 Zenith [unpatented] 0.40 Chinese Common [unpatented] 0.20 Himeno [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 13,267P3] 0.15 Crowne [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,570] 0.26 El Toro [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 5,845P] 0.13 Empire [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,466P] 0.24 JaMur [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 13,178P2] 0.23 Victoria [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,135P] 0.19 Empress [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,495] 0.31 Palisades [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,515P] 0.30 Matrella [unpatented] 0.32 Southern Gem [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 15,218P2] 0.36 GNZ [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 7,074] 0.55 Cavalier [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,778P] 0.42 Rollmaster [unpatented] 0.27 Zeon [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 13,166P2] 0.35 Zorro [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 14,130] 0.40 Royal [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 14,395] 0.25 Y2 [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 17,824P2] 0.25 Emerald [unpatented] 0.42 Ultimate Flora [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 23,716P3] 0.25 Pristine [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 18,415P3] 0.36 Cashmere [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 6,529] 0.38 Diamond [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,636P] 0.36 Carrizo [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 17,808] 0.33 Serene [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 14,175P2] 0.29 Geo [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 27,051P3] 0.57 Innovation [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 31,464P3] 0.18 Cutlass [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 25,380] 0.24 Chisholm [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 30,653P3] 0.28 Belair [unpatented] 0.32 Toccoa Green [U.S. Plant Pat. No. 18,405] 0.42