Characterization of forage yield potential and morphophenological traits in genetic resources of several forage grasses

One of the approaches to agricultural sustainability is using diversity of plant species, including forage crops. A total of 64 accessions of forage grass genus: Agrostis, Bromus, Dactylis, Festuca and Phalaris were sown in a field experiment, and their agro-morphological traits were characterized according to standard descriptors. A high diversity was observed for most of the studied traits on the genus. F test was significant for most of the traits based on one-way ANOVA. Duncan mean comparison method was performed to grouping genus based on the recorded traits. Phalaris located in the highest rank for herbage summer yield followed by Bromus, Festuca and Dactylis in the next group and Agrostis and Poa located in the last group. Results showed forage grasses can be seemed as candidate to be used in agronomy systems due to the existence of high potential for forge yield in the studied materials.