Evaluation of Heat and Drought as Components of Summer Stress on Tall Fescue Genotypes

Heat and drought are two major abiotic stresses causing a decline in quality in cool-season turfgrasses during the summer. The objectives of this study were 1) to determine whether genotypic variations in turf performance during summer stress in New Jersey is related primarily to heat tolerance or drought tolerance of tall fescue; and 2) to make selections of plants tolerant to summer stress for breeding efforts. Twenty-four tall fescue genotypes exhibiting differential performance during summer months in field conditions (12 summer stress-tolerant and 12 summer stress-sensitive) were selected from the germplasm pool present at the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station. Plants of these 24 genotypes were exposed to heat, drought, or heat + drought. There were generally no significant differences in turf quality, photochemical efficiency, relative water content, or electrolyte leakage between summer stress-tolerant and -sensitive genotypes, except in the heat treatment in which the summer stress-tolerant selections performed significantly better. The results indicate that the superior performance of the summer stress-tolerant plants under field conditions is mainly the result of superior heat tolerance.