breeding

This article was originally posted on the WinterTurf project blog.

By Eric Watkins

Perennial ryegrass finds its way into most turfgrass seed mixtures for home lawns, parks, and other types of mowed landscapes in Minnesota and most of the northern United States. Quick germination, rapid establishment, dark green color, and, most importantly, lower cost than other options, give this species an almost permanent place in the seed bag. This popularity belies the many weaknesses of this grass, including problems with winter, summer, heat, drought, disease, and shade.

We have posted all 2024 turfgrass research plot data on our 2024 cultivar evaluation page. There are results posted from three types of trials, and results are uploaded in a new, accessible format. 

Learn more about our research! A new, open access article by Garett Heineck, Nancy Ehlke, and Eric Watkins has been published in Geosciences & Environment. Their study found that perennial ryegrass grown for turfgrass or seed in the Upper US Midwest will likely not face many tradeoffs when breeding for both aesthetics and seed yield.

We have posted all 2022 turfgrass research plot data on our cultivar evaluation page. There are results posted from three types of trials.

By Eric Watkins

We have posted all 2021 turfgrass research plot data on our cultivar evaluation page. There are results posted from three types of trials.

Learn more about our research! Three research articles from our group have been published in the September/October 2021 issue of Crop Science.

By Eric Watkins

We have posted all 2020 turfgrass research plot data on our cultivar evaluation page. There are results posted from three types of trials.

Learn more about our research! A new research article from our group has been published in Grass and Forage Science. Garett Heineck and co-authors wrote about new methods they investigated to identify superior plant material for perennial ryegrass breeding programs.

Cultivar data by year

Cultivar evaluation results for trials conducted by the University of Minnesota prior to 2024 can be found in the University Digital Conservancy in the Turfgrass Science collection, or individual years can be accessed by selecting the relevant links below. Trials conducted in 2024 can be accessed via Google Docs.