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Festulolium, a century of research and breeding and its increased relevance in meeting the requirements for multifunctional grassland agriculture

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Table 1 Suppl. A global overview of Festulolium cultivars bred from alternative Lolium Festuca hybrid combinations (cultivars in
bold registered on the 2020 OECD list). Specific data on two Festulolium cultivars, Hba2544 and LE 16-26, registered on the OECD
list 2020, were not recognized.
Initial hybrid combination
Breeding approach
Cultivar
Ploidy level a
Country of origin
Lolium multiflorum Festuca pratensis
amphiploidy
Elmet
tetraploid
United Kingdom
amphiploidy
Emrys
tetraploid
United Kingdom
amphiploidy
Achilles
tetraploid
Czech Republic
amphiploidy
Helus
tetraploid
Czech Republic
amphiploidy
Hopej
tetraploid
Czech Republic
amphiploidy
Hostyn
tetraploid
Czech Republic
amphiploidy
Hyperon
tetraploid
Czech Republic
amphiploidy
Perseus
tetraploid
Czech Republic
amphiploidy
Perun
tetraploid
Czech Republic
amphiploidy
Lifema
tetraploid
Germany
amphiploidy
Lina DS
tetraploid
Lithuania
amphiploidy
Puga
tetraploid
Lithuania
amphiploidy
Rakopan
tetraploid
Poland
amphiploidy
Festum
tetraploid
Italy
amphiploidy
Tatay II
tetraploid
Argentina
introgression
AberNiche
tetraploid
United Kingdom
introgression
Evergreen
tetraploid
United States
introgression
Kemal
tetraploid
United States
introgression
Tandem
tetraploid
United States
Festuca pratensis Lolium multiflorum
amphiploidy
Paulita
tetraploid
Germany
amphiploidy
Paulena
tetraploid
Germany
amphiploidy
Fedoro
tetraploid
Germany
amphiploidy
Agula
tetraploid
Poland
amphiploidy
Felopa
tetraploid
Poland
amphiploidy
Sulino
tetraploid
Poland
amphiploidy
Punia DS
tetraploid
Lithuania
amphiploidy
Nakei 1
tetraploid
Japan
introgression
Tohoku 1 1
tetraploid
Japan
introgression
Merlin
tetraploid
Uruguay
introgression
Felovia
tetraploid
Switzerland
introgression
Felimare 2
tetraploid
Switzerland
Lolium perenne Festuca pratensis
amphiploidy
Prior
tetraploid
United Kingdom
amphiploidy
Spring Green 3
tetraploid
United States
amphiploidy
Fabel
tetraploid
Norway
amphiploidy
Frosta
tetraploid
Norway
amphiploidy
North fest
tetraploid
Japan
introgression
Matrix
diploid
New Zealand
introgression
Revolution
diploid
New Zealand
introgression
Ultra
diploid
New Zealand
introgression
Barrier 4
diploid
New Zealand
introgression
AberNile 5, b
diploid
United Kingdom
introgression
Barfest
tetraploid
Netherlands
introgression
Duo
tetraploid
United States
Lolium spp. Festuca pratensis
introgression
Icarus 6
tetraploid
Japan
Lolium hybridum Festuca pratensis
introgression
introgression
introgression
Saikava
Vizule
Festilo
tetraploid
tetraploid
tetraploid
Latvia
Latvia
Belgium
Lolium multiflorum Festuca arundinacea
var. glaucescens
amphiploidy
Lueur
tetraploid
France
amphiploidy
Lusilium
tetraploid
France
amphiploidy
Luxane
tetraploid
France
introgression
AberLink
diploid
United Kingdom
Lolium multiflorum Festuca arundinacea
introgression
Honor b
diploid
Czech Republic
introgression
Horimir b
diploid
Czech Republic
introgression
Bečva
tetraploid
Czech Republic
introgression
Hathor
tetraploid
Czech Republic
Initial hybrid combination
Breeding approach
Cultivar
Ploidy level a
Country of origin
introgression
Hermes
tetraploid
Czech Republic
introgression
Hypnos
tetraploid
Czech Republic
introgression
Lofa
tetraploid
Czech Republic
introgression
Vėtra
tetraploid
Lithuania
introgression
Diagram
hexaploid
Czech Republic
introgression
Felina
hexaploid
Czech Republic
introgression
Fojtan
hexaploid
Czech Republic
introgression
Hemsut
hexaploid
Czech Republic
introgression
Hipast
hexaploid
Czech Republic
introgression
Honak
hexaploid
Czech Republic
introgression
Hykor
hexaploid
Czech Republic
introgression
Kebo
hexaploid
Czech Republic
introgression
Korina b
hexaploid
Czech Republic
introgression
Lesana b
hexaploid
Czech Republic
introgression
Lukida
hexaploid
Czech Republic
introgression
Mahulena
hexaploid
Czech Republic
introgression
Naos
hexaploid
Czech Republic
introgression
Rebab
hexaploid
Czech Republic
introgression
Kenhy
hexaploid
United States
introgression
Johnstone
hexaploid
United States
amphiploidy
KY-2N56 7
octoploid
United States
Lolium perenne Festuca mairei
amphiploidy
AberRoot 8
tetraploid
United Kingdom
Lolium spp. Festuca spp.
introgression
Splice 9
tetraploid
New Zealand
a diploid (2n = 2x = 14); tetraploid (2n = 4x = 28); hexaploid (2n = 6x = 42), octoploid (2n = 8x = 56);
b turf cultivars (V. Cernoch, pers. comm.);
1 cv. Tohoku 1 was developed from inter-crossing of three cvs: Evergreen, Paulita and Tandem (A. Kubota, personal communication);
2 cv. Felimare was developed from intercrossing of cv. Felovia with L. hybridum (Ch. Grieder, pers. com.);
3 cv. Spring Green was developed from intercrossing of four cvs: Elmet, Kemal, Tandem and Prior (Casler et al. 2001);
4 cv. Barrier (meadow fescue type) was developed from intercrossing of F. pratensis with cvs Matrix, Revolution and Ultra (A. Stewart,
personal communication);
5 cv. AberNile L. perenne introgression line of amenity grass with a homozygous recessive mutant “stay-green sid” gene transferred
from F. pratensis conferring disrupted leaf senescence (Thomas et al. 1997);
6 cv. Icarus was developed from intercrossing of four cvs: Evergreen, Paulita, Tandem, and Duo (A. Kubota, personal communication);
7 KY-2N56 germplasm the first tall fescue hybrid derivative of L. multiflorum F. arundinacea and F. arundinacea F. gigantea
hybrids (Pedersen et al. 1990);
8 cv. AberRoot the first L. perenne F. mairei amphiploid cultivar (formerly referred to in publications as Bx511 and Lp Fm),
having gained entry onto the UK National List 2020 (M. Humphreys, personal communication);
9 cv. Splice (Italian ryegrass type) was developed from intercrossing of L. multiflorum, L. perenne, F. pratensis and F. arundinacea
(A. Stewart, personal communication).
... Grass varieties have been developed to help provide resilience to the contrasting and more extreme abiotic stresses increasingly experienced due to climate change, providing new tools for farmers to help safeguard forage supply and increase feed efficiency in grassland-based agri-food systems. Festulolium cultivars are grasses generated through conventional plant hybridization technologies that can combine the complementary agronomic attributes found in ryegrasses (Lolium spp.) and the stress resilience of related fescue (Festuca spp.) species (Humphreys & Zwierzykowski, 2020) during different environmental conditions (Loka et al., 2019). ...
... The L. perenne parent of the amphiploid Festulolium cv Lp × Fg cultivar used in the current study was also a "highsugar" ryegrass. Humphreys and Zwierzykowski (2020) reported that several forage quality and growth traits expressed in amphiploid Festulolium cultivars developed at IBERS involving hybrids of high sugar ryegrasses species when in combination with F. arundinacea var glaucescens (or F. mairei) would not differ statistically from, and would be determined by, their ryegrass parent. Ryegrass (Lp) had a higher DM content than Lp × Fg in the fresh forage at Cut 2 (p < 0.001) but DM content did not differ between the two grasses at Cut 4. Data from the larger main plot experiment, from which the forages used in the current study were derived, showed that the yield of the perennial ryegrass was higher than the Festulolium in Cut 2 (3.04 v 3.61 t DM/ha), whereas the opposite was found later in the season at Cut 4 (3.26 v. 2.64 t DM/ha). ...
... Further research to understand the potential impact of growth ontogeny during the growing season, and the effects of respiration rates and silica content on wilting rates specific to Festulolium to investigate the need for change to management practice of forage post-harvest will help to optimize use of these new grass cultivars for conservation purposes. More generally, grasses such as the L. perenne × F. arundinacea var glaucescens hybrid offer new opportunities to fully exploit their diverse and holistic properties (Humphreys & Zwierzykowski, 2020;Muhandiram et al., 2020). These include not only their capabilities for productive and high-quality forage, and their efficient protein provisions but also, at a time of climate change and need for more sustainable grassland management, their multiple ecosystem service provisions. ...
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Abstract The efficient preservation of protein in silage for livestock feed is dependent on the rate and extent of proteolysis. Previous research on fresh forage indicated enhanced protein stability in certain Festulolium (ryegrass × fescue hybrids) cultivars compared to ryegrass. This is the first report of an experiment to test the hypothesis that a Lolium perenne × Festuca arundinacea var glaucescens cultivar had reduced proteolysis compared to perennial ryegrass (L. perenne) during the ensiling process. Forages were harvested in May (Cut 2) and August (Cut 4), wilted for 24 h and ensiled in laboratory‐scale silos. Silage was destructively sampled at 0 h, 9 h, 24 h, 48 h, 72 h, 14 days and 90 days post‐ensiling, and dry matter (DM), pH and chemical composition were determined. At Cut 2, there was no difference in crude protein between treatments but ryegrass had higher soluble nitrogen (SN) (P
... Several Lolium and Festuca species are very closely related. They hybridize easily, and the crosses between L. multiflorum and diploid F. pratensis, or hexaploid F. arundinacea, demonstrate particularly high compatibility, providing the germplasm for the development of commercial grass varieties [25][26][27][28]. F. arundinacea (2n = 6x = 42) is a natural allohexaploid species originating as a hybrid between F. pratensis and F. glaucescens, structurally defined as FpFpFgFgFgFg [29]. ...
... In addition, this study has shown that there is much closer homology between L. multiflorum and F. pratensis genomes than between L. multiflorum and F. glaucescens. In grass breeding, L. multiflorum and F. arundinacea show very high crossability and provide a particularly valuable combination of complementary traits [28,31,32]. ...
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Festuca and Lolium grass species are used for Festulolium hybrid variety production where they display trait complementarities. However, at the genome level, they show antagonisms and a broad scale of rearrangements. A rare case of an unstable hybrid, a donor plant manifesting pronounced variability of its clonal parts, was discovered in the F2 group of 682 plants of Lolium multiflorum × Festuca arundinacea (2n = 6x = 42). Five phenotypically distinct clonal plants were determined to be diploids, having only 14 chromosomes out of the 42 in the donor. GISH defined the diploids as having the basic genome from F. pratensis (2n = 2x = 14), one of the progenitors of F. arundinacea (2n = 6x = 42), with minor components from L. multiflorum and another subgenome, F. glaucescens. The 45S rDNA position on two chromosomes also corresponded to the variant of F. pratensis in the F. arundinacea parent. In the highly unbalanced donor genome, F. pratensis was the least represented, but the most involved in numerous recombinant chromosomes. Specifically, FISH highlighted 45S rDNA-containing clusters involved in the formation of unusual chromosomal associations in the donor plant, suggesting their active role in karyotype realignment. The results of this study show that F. pratensis chromosomes have a particular fundamental drive for restructuring, which prompts the disassembly/reassembly processes. The finding of F. pratensis “escaping” and rebuilding itself from the chaotic “chromosomal cocktail” of the donor plant points to a rare chromoanagenesis event and extends the view of plant genome plasticity.
... Previous studies investigating the agronomic traits and feed value of Festulolium demonstrated its high resistance, notable yield potential, and excellent nutritional value characterised by high content of crude protein (CP) and WSC, along with low content of crude fibre (CF) (Østrem et al., 2013;Humphreys and Zwierzykowski, 2020;Boller et al., 2022). Festulolium roughage can be offered to cattle and sheep fresh, ensiled, or as hay, and in Poland, fattening lambs are usually fed hay or haylage complemented with oat or barley grain (Milewski et al., 2014). ...
... Farmers in regions of Europe with relatively cold winters, including Lithuania, are reluctant to include it in forage grass mixtures due to concerns about poor overwintering. Festulolium is often considered a stress-resistant alternative to ryegrasses [47]. Indeed, in this experiment, cv. ...
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Interspecific hybridisation of forage grasses has been undertaken at the Institute of Agriculture since the end of the 1970's. Lolium perenne (Lp) and Festuca pratensis (Fp) aneuploid hybrids and a tetraploid Fp cultivar 'Patra' have been utilised for crossing. Two cultivars - 'Saikava' and 'Vizule', which contain Lp, L.multiflorum (Lm) and Fp germplasm have been registered. These xFestulolium cultivars were assessed in field conditions, and the genetic composition was determined by morphological parameters as well as by utilisation of species-specific molecular markers. In total, a higher proportion of Lolium (0/L) genotypes were identified in the analysed loci (62%), compared to hybrid genotypes (F/L - 34%). Festuca genotypes (F/0) were found in 3% of all loci. A higher proportion of Lolium alleles were found within all the xFestulolium cultivars: Ape - 74.9%, Lorry - 81.8%, Vizule - 72.9%, Saikava - 75.8%, Lofa - 74.3%, Punia - 58.9%. © Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018.
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