Tissue culture and high-efficiency transformation in an apomictic initial variety of Paspalum notatum Flüggé.

ABSTRACT.- Paspalum notatum Flüggé is a subtropical grass native from the Americas and one of the main components of the subtropical South American grasslands. Although P. notatum exhibits a high forage productivity and persistence, some limitations are observed in the species, such as forage quality due to high lignin content. The development of efficient tissue culture and plant transformation protocols in cultivars for forage production are necessary to embrace novel genetic improvement through transgenesis and genome editing.