Selection efficiency of wild ecotypes for forage and turf grass breeding

Abstract

Experimental evidence from the period 1994–2007 suggests that selection of wild forage-type ecotypes is promising for smooth-stalked meadow grass, reed canary grass, redtop and other species. On the basis of wild ecotype selection of these species, four forage type varieties of grasses have been developed: smooth-stalked meadow grass ‘Gaja’ and ‘Danė’, redtop ‘Violeta’, reed canary grass ‘Pievys’. About 3% of the forage-type plants of perennial grasses exhibited resistance to foliar diseases. For the development of forage-type varieties of some species, such as timothy and meadow fescue, wild ecotypes were in most cases insufficiently luxuriant. According to a complex of agromorphological characteristics, about 1.5% of the wild ecotypes of various species were found to be promising for the application in turf grass breeding. Some turf grass varieties have been developed on the basis of the most promising wild ecotypes and have been registered in Lithuania: smooth-stalked meadow grass ‘Klotė’ and ‘Galvė’, red fescue ‘Gludas’. Keywords: agromorphological properties, natural habitats, wild ecotypes