Assessing of morph-physiological traits in tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea schreb.) germplasms

Tall fescue ( Festuca arundinacea schreb.) is one of the important perennial grasses for creating and maintaining of pastures as well as harvesting wet matter forms. In order to evaluate of morphphysiological characteristics and selection of superior accessions in tall fescue on 36 accessions a lattice square design with three replications was carried out in agricultural and natural resources research centre of Zanjan province. Result analysis of variance showed that different types of tall fescue had significant differences in wet and dry forage yield, heading and flowering dates, panicle length, 1000-grain weight and seed maturity. Accessions of 6000-71 (Borujen-Iran origin) and 1061 (Belgium origin) had the most wet matter. In contrast 6000-70 (Borujen-Iran origin) was the lowest value. Moreover, 078 (California origin) had the highest and 6000-71 (Borujen-Iran origin), VIII (Russia origin), Sabalan (Ardabil origin) had the lowest total dry matter. Phonotypical correlation coefficient showed significant positive correlation between flowering date with heading date, date of seed maturity (r=0.618 ** ), (r=0.456*), respectively, and between wet and dry forage yield (r=0.437 * ). Wet forage yield (0.437) and panicle length (0.217) had the most direct and positive effects on dry forage yield. In opposite, plant height had lower direct and positive effect (0.051). Therefore, selection based on wet forage yield and panicle length is recommended for increasing dry forage yield. Cluster analysis characterized accessions in three groups. At first group accessions located with high plant height but moderate wet and dry forage yield. Accessions with least wet, dry forage yield and panicle length settled in the second group. Third group had higher wet and dry forage yield and moderate panicle length.