A Study of Morphological Variation in some Genotypes of Festuca arundinacea Using Multivariate Analysis

To study the genetic variation among 24 genotypes of tall fescue (F. arundinacea), a randomized complete block design of three replications was conducted under spaced plant conditions in Karaj Research Institute of Alburz, Iran. Analysis of Variance showed high and significant differences (P<0.001) for between genotypes all the 15 morphological characteristics of: heading date, stem height, fertile tiller number, seed yield, panicle length, panicle seed yield, seed number in panicle, thousand grain weight, harvest index, stand of plant, flowering date, forage dry matter, viability percentage, speed of germination, and germination vigor. Genotypes G1, G2, G4, G6 and G8 appeared to be the most suitable genotypes for both seed and forage production. Principal component analysis, the most effective variable among seed yield characters was identified. Four independent components accounted for 87.7% of total variations. The first principal component indicates that stem height, fertile tiller number, seed yield, forage dry matter yield were important characters for classification. Viability percentage and germination vigor were the important characters of the second component. Based on Ward’s cluster analysis, the 24 entries were divided into 4 groups. Genotypes in clusters 1 and 2 averaged higher than the overall means for seed and forage dry matter yields.