Phenotypic differentiation of tall fescue populations naturalized in the central region of argentina

Abstract

V egetative and reproductive traits of Festuca arundinacea Schreber populations naturalized in the central subhumid-semiarid region of Argentina were studied through the univariate analysis of variance, simple correlation and multivariate analysis of main components. Populations differ significantly in most considered traits. Populations identified as 3306-CRE and 3243-645 showed a very good behavior in reproductive traits; the former also showed good behavior in vegetative traits. The traits measured at the end of the cycle: number of tillers, number of panicles, dry weight of the whole plant and harvest index, were the ones that contributed most to differentiating the populations in the multivariate analysis.