Enhancing Water Use Efficiency in Tall Fescue for Greater Persistence.

Tall fescue is an important perennial forage grass in the USA. In the Southern Great Plains, the persistence of tall fescue is significantly affected by hot and dry summer. However, tall fescue in the Mediterranean region experience drought and persist well. Tall fescue germplasms were collected from GRIN with the aim of developing cultivars with increased persistence for the region. A total of 210 tall fescue plant introduction were collected and phenotyped in the greenhouse using various physiological traits that are highly associated with drought response. Among the measure traits, osmotic potential showed significant correlation with other drought responsive traits to influence water use efficiency. Chlorophyll content data was taken four times, however fourth measurement of the data was found to contribute for drought response. All the traits have been indexed and used for germplasm selection. A total of 20 genotypes were selected and planted in the field for further evaluation. Based on the overall performance, germplasm will be selected for parental use to enhance the tall fescue breeding program for water use efficiency and persistence.