Department of Botany, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Okara, Okara, Pakistan.
Department of Botany, Lahore College for Women University, Lahore, Pakistan.
Microsc Res Tech. 2022 Jul;85(7):2497-2513. doi: 10.1002/jemt.24104. Epub 2022 Apr 4.
The significance of grasses as fodder is enormous. However, it has been observed that different fodder grasses are identified locally with the similar vernacular names. Even same species recognized with different names. This happened due to their reduced and overlapped morphological characters. Hence comprehensive taxonomic keys were required to provide authentic identification of this grass flora. Current study established microscopic identification tools on the basis of leaf transverse anatomical features. Results demonstrated a great diversity in ribs and furrows arrangement among all studied grass members. Lolium temulentum, Phalaris minor, Poa annua, Arundo donax, Aristida adscensionis, Desmostachya bipinnata, Cenchrus biflorus and Digitaria ciliaris possessed ribs and furrows only at adaxial surfaces whereas all other species possessed this feature abaxially. Generally all the species contain three types of vascular bundles i.e. small, medium and large. Therefore, this qualitative feature is valuable only at family level, however, it found insignificant in taxa identification. Diversity was observed in bundle sheath type which could be taxonomically significant. Generally bundle sheath was found complete in most of species but in Bromus japonicus Thunb., Dactylis glomerata L., Acrachne racemosa (Heyne ex Roth) Ohwi, Chrysopogon aucheri (Boiss.) Stapf, Dichanthium annulatum (Forssk.) Stapf, Heteropogon contortus (L.) P Beauv. Ex. Roem & Schult. Eragrostis minor Host. and in Agrostis gigantea Roth. had incomplete type of sheath. Results reported great diversity in characters which could be taxonomically viable. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: This research highlighted the significance of microscopic examination of leaf transverse anatomical features in field of taxonomy. Established anatomical tools would be of great importance for the identification of studied species.
草作为饲料的意义非常重大。然而，人们观察到，不同的饲料草在当地被用相似的俗名来识别。甚至相同的物种也被赋予了不同的名称。这是由于它们的形态特征减少和重叠造成的。因此，需要综合分类学钥匙来提供这种草本植物区系的准确鉴定。本研究基于叶片横切面解剖特征建立了微观鉴定工具。结果表明，在所研究的所有草本成员中，肋和沟的排列存在很大的多样性。多花黑麦草、雀麦、草地早熟禾、芦竹、狗尾草、双穗雀稗、两型豆和狗尾草只在叶的腹面具有肋和沟，而其他所有物种在背面都具有这种特征。一般来说，所有物种都包含三种类型的维管束，即小、中、大。因此，这种定性特征仅在科水平上有价值，但在分类鉴定中并不重要。束鞘类型的多样性具有分类学意义。一般来说，在大多数物种中，束鞘是完整的，但在日本看麦娘、硬羊茅、阿氏狼尾草、金黄狗尾草、梯牧草、弯穗画眉草、扭序狗尾草、大画眉草和糙野古草中，束鞘是不完整的。结果表明，在特征上存在很大的多样性，这在分类学上是可行的。研究亮点：本研究强调了叶片横切面解剖特征在分类学领域的微观检查的重要性。建立的解剖工具对鉴定研究物种将非常重要。
