Abstract
A 4 year experiment was carried out to evaluate perenniality and some adaptative responses to drought of Dactylis glomerata, Lolium arundinacea and Phalaris aquatica, The trial was held in Merchouch experimental INRA station at 68 km west of Rabat/Morocco, in a vertic deep silty clay soil (>1m80 deep) was sown on 20 october 2005 to compare 18 grass accessions. Measurements included: establishment, dry matter production, sward senescence, water content and water soluble carbohydrates in survival organs.
The potential of production was important for tall fescue and phalaris compared to cocksfoot cultivars. Drought progression was different through varieties. Summer dormant cocksfoot became totally senescent at onset of drought, while non dormant cocksfoot had more green tissue. Festuca cultivars had slightly slow senescence along summer and behave identically against drought progression. Senescence levels reached more than 87% at the middle of summer drought. Water content in survival organs decreased gradually under summer drought. Festuca cultivars had maintained higher levels at the end of summer (48%) than cocksfoot cultivars (39%), which did not show any significant differences between varieties. Inversely, soluble water carbohydrates in survival organs increased with drought in the same pattern.
The harsh conditions and summer droughts have affected significantly production and persistence of grasses. Four groups of grass cultivars have been distinguished according to their persistence under extreme drought conditions.
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Acknowledgements
This work was in part supported by the European Commission (PERMED project, INCO-CT-2004-509140) for financial support.
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Kallida, R., Shaimi, N., Faiz, C.A. (2010). Drought Survival of Some Perennial Grasses in Moroccan Rainfed Conditions: Eco-physiological Traits. In: Huyghe, C. (eds) Sustainable use of Genetic Diversity in Forage and Turf Breeding. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8706-5_16
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8706-5_16
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