Limited research has been directed towards characterizing the phenotyp
ic and genotypic variability of different traits in North American pla
nt species. This study was conducted to estimate the degree of genetic
control, i.e., the heritability (h2), of several agronomic and morpho
logical traits of ND-WWG931 western wheatgrass [Pascopyrum smithii, (R
ydb.) Love] and to provide insight into appropriate sample sizes neede
d to estimate genetic parameters. Thirty randomly selected half-sib fa
milies of ND-WWG931 western wheatgrass were evaluated over 2 years and
2 locations in seeded single-row plots. Heritabilities were determine
d for the following traits based on the progeny means of the 30 famili
es: dry matter yield, tiller height, spikelets per spike, vigor, spike
density, spike pubescence, and spikelet color. Spike density, dry mat
ter yield, and vigor had relatively high heritabilities (h2 = 79, 72,
and 67%, respectively) and were estimated with the greatest precision
(90% confidence interval width range: 33 to 64% as large as the point
estimate). Spike pubescence, spikelets per spike, tiller height, and s
pikelet color demonstrated moderate to low heritabilities (h2 = 55, 49
, 33, and 0% respectively) and were estimated with the least precision
as demonstrated by relatively wide confidence limits. The genetic var
iance components for spike density, forage yield, vigor, and spike pub
escence exceeded twice their standard errors indicating that selection
for these traits should be effective in ND-WWG931. Heritability estim
ates of fresh forage yield were essentially the same, i.e., 61.9 and 6
1.5%, when based on either 30 or 270 half-sib families, respectively,
indicating that a sample size of 30 families was adequate to provide r
eliable estimates of genetic variance in ND-WWG931. These data provide
general insight into the population genetics of a North American plan
t species and demonstrate an approach to determine the genetic variabi
lity within plant materials that are being used for rangeland revegeta
tion.