The Assessment of Agrostis Capillaris Wild Populations for Use in Turf Grass Breeding

Seed accessions were collected in Lithuania, Latvia and North West Ukraine. A total of 100 wild populations of Agrostis capillaris were investigated and compared under the same conditions at the Institute of Agriculture, Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, during the period 2006-2012. The populations were assessed for the following traits: 1000 seed weight, seed weight per plant, plant height, panicle length, spikelet length, vegetative leaf length, leaf width, and beginning of inflorescence emergence. The coefficient of variation of individual traits (beginning of inflorescence emergence, spikelet length) was not high. The variation of other traits (1000 seed weight, plant height, panicle length, leaf width) was moderate. The variation of seed weight per plant was the highest, the variation coefficient of this trait ranged from 43.3% for the Lithuanian populations to 71.6 % for the Ukrainian populations. However, the averaged values of the tested traits did not significantly differ between the countries, except for the inflorescence emergence date. As a result, it is not expedient to discriminate the genetic resources of Agrostis capillaris according to geographic criterion. It can be inferred that because of the rather high variation of individual traits, wild populations of Agrostis capillaris can be successfully used in turf grass breeding.