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Between‐cultivar variability in breaking force of components of perennial ryegrass ( Lolium perenne )
Author(s) -
Bryant R. H.,
Nicol A. M.,
Wilson F. E.,
Sedcole J. R.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
grass and forage science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.716
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1365-2494
pISSN - 0142-5242
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2494.2008.00641.x
Subject(s) - cultivar , lolium perenne , perennial plant , dry matter , biology , agronomy , horticulture
The variation in force required to break the leaves and pseudostems of perennial ryegrass ( Lolium perenne ) was measured on twelve New Zealand commercial and pre‐release cultivars using a punch and die apparatus which enabled up to 100 simultaneous breaks per sample. Perennial ryegrass cultivars were sampled from 2‐year‐old pure swards in two studies carried out in spring and autumn. In the first study, the forces required to break old and young leaves, and pseudostems, of six cultivars ranging in heading date and ploidy were compared at a designated morphological stage during spring growth. Force was measured as Newtons (N) mg −1 dry matter (DM) and the difference between the force required to break leaves and pseudostems was significant ( P < 0·01). The youngest emerged leaf required a greater force by 0·13 than the oldest green leaf (5·60 and 4·90 N mg −1 DM for young and old leaf respectively). The force required to break leaves (average of young and old leaves) of 5·25 N mg −1 DM was 0·12 greater than the force required to break pseudostems (4·59 N mg −1 DM). This difference was consistent across most cultivars. In the second study, the force required to break leaves of ten cultivars was tested daily over three autumn periods when all cultivars were sampled at a regrowth age of 2 weeks. The cultivar Nevis was used in each period whilst the other cultivars were used in one period. When averaged across periods, cultivars could be separated into three groups of high, medium and low forces required to break leaves. The difference between the means of the high and low groups was 0·33 with a range from 3·29 to 4·91 N mg −1 DM.