Evaluating variation in shade tolerance among fine fescue species

Abstract

Tolerance to shade is a desired trait for cool-season turfgrasses, but improvement in shade tolerance has been challenging. Shade tolerant turfgrasses, when grown under quantitative and qualitative shade, should exhibit negligible etiolation, less chlorosis, and efficient carbohydrate partitioning, while maintaining normal amounts of tillering - therefore growing similar to full sun plants. Selection for shade tolerance in the field can be difficult due to large amounts of variation in shade intensity and the duration. The fine fescue (Festuca ssp.) turfgrasses are shade tolerant turfgrasses; however, there has been little investigation into the variability for shade tolerance within and among this turfgrass group. Our objective was to evaluate the use of a greenhouse-based approach for selecting of improved shade tolerance among the fine fescues.