Description

A divergent selection for lamina length was done from natural populations of perennial ryegrass. Tested in a multi-site experiment in France, the short-leaved perennial ryegrass was more productive under simulated grazing and less productive under infrequent cutting than the long-leaved perennial ryegrass. Matching cultivars to their management is possible by selecting for morphogenetic traits. However, our results suggest the range of adaptation to different managements of perennial ryegrass cultivars could be extended by increasing their phenotypic plasticity.

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Breeding Morphogenetic Traits to Match Genotypes to Their Utilization

A divergent selection for lamina length was done from natural populations of perennial ryegrass. Tested in a multi-site experiment in France, the short-leaved perennial ryegrass was more productive under simulated grazing and less productive under infrequent cutting than the long-leaved perennial ryegrass. Matching cultivars to their management is possible by selecting for morphogenetic traits. However, our results suggest the range of adaptation to different managements of perennial ryegrass cultivars could be extended by increasing their phenotypic plasticity.