Whipgrass [Hemarthriacompressa(Linn.f.)R.Br.] has several outstanding characteristics that make it attractive in livestock production systems. These include superior cool-season growth compared to other C₄ grasses, persistence under grazing on poorly drained soils, and relatively high herbage digestibility that declines at a slower rate with increasing maturity than for most C₄ grasses. More than 50 years hard work, a whipgrass breeding group in Sichuan Agricultural University (SAU) collected 84 accessions from south china. Through germplasm evaluation and breeding, 3 varieties, Chong gao, Guang yi and Ya an, were released by the end of 2009. All of them are very popular in south china from 1986. In the future, the team approach emphasizes plant improvement in seedling vigor and establishment, seed production, cold tolerance, photoperiod response, seasonal distribution of forage production, forage quality, insect and disease resistance.

26 wild accessions and 2 cultivars of whip grass (Hemarthria compress a (L. f.) R. Br.), which collected in the fields of Sichuan Agricultural University (SAU), were used to study on their ploidy level and reproductive characteristics. The results showed that there were 4 tetraploids (14.3%), H028, H029, H052, H053, chromosome numbers were 2n=4x=36, and 24 hexaploids (85.7%), 2n=6x=54. There was no significant correlation between geographical distribution and ploidy level in this research. From 2006 to 2008, hexaploids set few seeds, but all of the tetraploids set some seeds more or less. H052 had the highest seed set (11.22%). The tetraploids had potential for seed production, especially H052, it should be possible to obtain hybrids by cross-pollination in the future.