MORPHOLOGICAL AND AGRONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF PERENNIAL RYEGRASS (Lolium perenne L.) GENOTYPES

Many plants in natural flora including perennial ryegrass loss their genetic variability, suffer from genetic pollution or become extinction. In Turkey, studies on breeding of perennial ryegrass genotype collections are inadequate. This study aimed to determine some plant characteristics of perennial ryegrass plants collected from the natural flora of Ankara. Those genotypes were utilized in order to evaluate for breeding purposes. Seedlings were reproduced in greenhouse after collected seeds from plants were sown in pots. Seedlings were transplanted to the experimental field at 50 x 50 cm intervals in Randomized Complete Block Design with four replications during 2005. Data were obtained from the observations and 568 perennial ryegrasses in 2007 and 2008. The observations and measurement of the two year average values ranged from 2.25 to 6.50 (1=very early, 9=very late) for the spring re-growth time, 2.75 to 7.75 (1=very light green, 9=very dark green) for color, 1.25 to 6.88 (1=very low, 9= very high) for density, 1.0 - 8.0 (1=erect, 9=prostrate) for growth habit, 1.0 - 9.0 (1=very weak, 9=very strong) for tendency to inflorescences, 1.0 to 7.5 (1= very early, 9= very late) for time of inflorescence emergence. In the study, furthermore, measurements varied between 19.35 and 48.05 cm for plant height, 8.31 and 25.54 cm for length of upper internode, 6.76 and 16.28 cm for spike length, 6.44 and 14.57 cm for leaf length, 2.41 and 4.01 mm for leaf width, 1.68 and 4.87 cm2 for leaf area, 21.23 and 45.52 for leaf shape, 11.63 and 23.75 for spikelet number per spike, 0.031 and 0.151 g spike-1 for seed yield, 1.23 and 2.38 g for thousand grain weight. The findings showed that there were significant differences among genotypes in terms of investigated traits. The high level of genotypic variability increased the possibility for selection of suitable genotypes. Research results indicated that superior genotypes of perennial ryegrass could be utilized in future breeding programs

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