Wild and semi natural ecotypes of perennial grasses and legumes - for breeding purposes

Abstract

During 1994-2014 perennial grass and legumes wild and semi-natural ecotypes were collected in different geographic locations and regions of Lithuania, Baltic littoral (Latvia), Kaliningrad region (Russia), Precarpathian, Carpathian, Zacarpathian and Polese regions (Ukraine). Altogether about 2500 seed accessions of 32 species of grasses and 18 species of legumes were collected. On the basis of most promising wild ecotypes, the following forage type varieties of grasses and legumes have been developed: smooth-stalked meadow grass (Poa pratensis L.) 'Rusne', black medic (Medicago lupulina L.) 'Arka', meadow foxtail (Alopecurus pratensis L.) 'Valentas', redtop (Agrostis gigantea Roth.) 'Violeta', reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea L.) 'Pievys DS'. For the development of forage-type varieties of some species, such as timothy, ryegrass and meadow fescue, wild ecotypes were in most cases insufficiently luxuriant. About 3% of the forage-type plants of perennial grasses exhibited resistance to foliar diseases. According to a complex of valuable agro morphological characteristics, small part (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 valuable wild ecotypes: Canada bluegrass (Poa compressa L.) 'Odre DS', wood bluegrass (Poa nemoralis L.) 'Luka DS', red fescue (Festuca rubra L.) 'Gludas', 'Varius' and 'Alkas', hard fescue (Festuca trachyphylla (Hack.) Krajina) 'Astravas'.