A study of dormancy, survival and other characteristics in Lolium perenne L. at Adelaide, S.A.

Abstract

A collection of perennial ryegrass from the Mediterranean area has been grown as spaced plants at Adelaide since 1956. Morphological characteristics, time of heading, summer dormancy, and persistency have been recorded and have been used to describe three distinct plant types. These new types are more persistent at Adelaide than existing commercial cultivars, high summer survival being attributed to the occurrence of summer dormancy. The importance of the collection as a source of new genotypes is stressed.