Variability, heritability and correlations of genetic resources in meadow fescue

Abstract

Economically valuable features such as dry matter yield (DMY) of virst cut, DMY of aftermath, plant height, days to heading, leafiness, digestibility, crude protein and crude fibre were studied in two cultivars and 22 wild populations of meadow fescue (Festuca pratensis Huds.) in the period 2002–2003 at the Lithuanian Institute of Agriculture (Dotnuva). Applying a covariance analysis, the genotypic and phenotypic coefficients of variation, correlation and broad sense heritability were studied. For all traits, the phenotypic coefficients of variation were higher than the genotypic coefficients. The heretability was lowest for plant height (0.05) and highest for dry matter digestibility (0.56). By annual DMY (9.21–12.54 ha–1), the cultivar ‘Kaita’ and two new meadow fescue wild populations (Nos. 2736 and 1661) reliably (P < 0.05) exceeded the standard cultivar ‘Dotnuva I’ (by 9.6–13.4%). Among the wild populations studied, nine (Nos. 2719, 1703, 1486, 3609, 3544, 3129, 2101, 2066 and 3467) showed a reliably (P < 0.01) better dry matter digestibility (66.53–69.65%) as compared to the standard (64.71%). The negative, high genotypic correlations (p < 0.01) of DMY first cut were noted for dry matter digestibility (–0.921). Positive high genotypic correlations (p < 0.01) were found between first cut DMY and crude protein content (0.721). As a simple index for selecting plants combining productivity and quality, crude protein yield is suggested. The highest yield of crude protein was shown by the wild populations Nos. 2341 (0.77 t ha–1), 1661 (0.78 t ha–1), 2736 (0.80 t ha–1) and 1931 (0.83 t ha–1) as compared to the standard (0.63 t ha–1). Keywords: Festuca pratensis, heritability, correlation, genotypic variation