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a Lebanon Seaboard Corporation, P.O. Box 10, Huntsville, UT 84317
b Dep. of Plant Biology and Pathology, NJAES, Cook College, Rutgers Univ., 59 Dudley Road, Foran Hall, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
* Corresponding author (tford{at}lebsea.com)
‘Ambassador’ Chewings fescue (Festuca rubra L. subsp. commutata Gaud.) (Reg no. CV-94, PI 632986) was released by Lebanon Seaboard Inc., Lebanon, PA, in March 2002. Germplasm from the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station (NJAES) was used in the development of Ambassador. Ambassador was tested under the experimental designation LTP-5001. The first Certified seed was produced in 2001 and marketed in the spring of 2002.
Ambassador is an advanced generation synthetic cultivar selected from the maternal progenies of 39 clones. Clones were selected from two nurseries established in 1994 and 1995 at the Rutgers Plant Biology and Pathology Research and Extension Farm, Adelphia, NJ. The 1994 nursery contained 1680 plants selected from the 1992 and 1993 fine fescue turf trials at Adelphia, and the 1993 fine fescue test at North Brunswick, NJ. The 1995 nursery contained 780 plants that were separately selected from the same populations as the 1994 nursery. Forty-seven plants were selected from these nurseries for characteristics including dark-green color, high shoot density, shorter mature plant stature, early anthesis and seed maturity, and freedom from disease. The 47 selected plants were moved before anthesis in the spring of 1996 to an isolated crossing block. Thirty-nine plants from 14 different maternal lines were individually harvested from the crossing block. The harvested plants exhibited higher seed yield potential, better floret fertility, and increased vigor when compared to other clones in the crossing block.
In the fall of 1996, one turf plot from each harvested plant was established at Adelphia, and 2 g of seed from each line were sent to Lebanon Seaboard for further screening and evaluation in Oregon. One thousand seeds from each of the 39 plants were randomly seeded in groups of 10 seeds per pot in a greenhouse near Independence, OR. The soil medium in each pot contained a high level of Pythium spp. common to the Pacific Northwest, USA. This soil medium was mixed and spread evenly among all pots to provide a uniform inoculum source. At 21 d after sowing, approximately 75% of the seedlings in all pots showed symptoms of Pythium. The seedling that was most vigorous and disease free and had the darkest green color was selected from each pot of 10 seedlings resulting in 100 seedlings from each of the 39 parental clones. These seedlings were allowed to grow in the greenhouse for another 2 wk. Twenty-five seedlings from each progeny of the 39 clones were then selected for dark-green color and freedom from disease. These 975 plants were moved to an isolated crossing block near Independence in the late fall of 1996. The isolation block was rogued during the summer, fall, and winter of 1997. Roguing continued during the spring and summer of 1998. Plants that showed any sign of disease, low vigor, or a lighter color were removed. Additionally, plants corresponding to any single-plant progeny turf plot at Adelphia, which were below the mean for overall turf performance, were rogued more intensively than those with above average turf performance.
By anthesis in 1998, 67 plants remained in the isolated crossing block. Sixty-two plants that exhibited excellent seed yield potential in terms of floret fertility and panicle number were subsequently hand harvested and bulked as Breeder seed for Ambassador. The harvested seed was used to establish an experimental Foundation field near Imbler, OR, and sent to the National Turfgrasss Evaluation Program (NTEP) for testing.
Thirty of the 62 harvested plants exhibited a few choke stroma, the reproductive structure of the Epichloe festucae (Chardl) endophyte. Twenty-two of the plants contained an endophyte referred to as the Cambridge endophyte, which was discovered in plants selected from Longfellow Park in Cambridge, MA. Three plants contained an endophyte referred to as the Delaware endophyte, which was discovered in plants selected from 4 Delaware Drive in East Brunswick, NJ.
Approximately 49% of the maternal germplasm used in the development of Ambassador Chewings fescue trace to plants selected from or related to ‘Longfellow’ (Edminster et al., 1993), and 38% trace to plants selected from or related to ‘Magic’ Chewings fescue. Two percent of the maternal germplasm trace to a plant selected from a cemetery in Ewing, NJ, in 1989.
The above germplasm and the remaining 11% of the maternal germplasm used in the development of Ambassador Chewings fescue were developed from the germplasm collection and population improvement program initiated at the NJAES in 1962. This germplasm from the NJAES also traces to plants selected from old lawn-type turfs from the grounds of Fort McHenry, Baltimore, MD; Johnson Park in Piscataway, NJ; the College Avenue Campus of Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ; the Bridgehampton Golf Course, Bridgehampton, NJ; Longfellow Park in Cambridge, MA (the source of the Cambridge endophyte); Westview Cemetery in Atlanta, GA; old parks in Philadelphia, PA; Tennant Cemetery, in Tennant, NJ; and a home lawn located at 4 Delaware Drive, East Brunswick, NJ (the source of the Delaware endophyte).
Ambassador, along with a few other improved elite turf types, have superior overall turf performance compared to common types. Ambassador is a low-growing, turf-type cultivar that is able to produce an attractive, fine-textured turf of medium-high density and a dark-green color. Ambassador had excellent overall turf performance in the 1998 National Fine Fescue Test (Morris, 1999). It excelled in overall turf quality, under conditions of full sun, shade, and fairway traffic. It also rated well for genetic color, drought tolerance, and resistance to leaf spot [caused by Drechslera dictyoides (Drechs.) Shoem.], dollar spot [caused by Sclerotinia homoeocarpa (F.T. Bennet)], brown patch (caused by Rhizoctonia solani Kühn), and summer patch (caused by Magnaporthe poae Landschoot & Jackson) (Morris, 1999).
Ambassador is useful for lawns, roadside, and conservation uses in temperate climates where medium maintenance turf is desired. It can be mixed with adapted blends of dark-green Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.) cultivars and dark-green, turf-type perennial ryegrasses (Lolium perenne L.). Turfs of Ambassador with a significant percentage of endophyte should have improved resistance to many harmful insect pests, greater persistence, improved drought tolerance, and improved resistance to the dollar-spot disease (Funk and White, 1997). Light but varying percentages of choke stroma may be found in seed production fields and low maintenance turfs of Ambassador containing endophyte. Ambassador seed from the 1998 NTEP test assayed 44% endophyte infection (DaCosta et al., 1999). Ambassador has proved to be an excellent seed yielder in the eastern Oregon area near Imbler (William Merrigan, personal communication, 15 July 2002).
Breeder seed of Ambassador is maintained by Lebanon Seaboard Corporation. Certified propagation is restricted to three generations from Breeder seed: one each of Foundation, Registered, and Certified. Application no. 200300158 has been made for U.S. Plant Variety Protection.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Appreciation is expressed to Ronald Bara, Rachel Bara, Thomas Molnar, Raymond Schaaf, George Ziemienski, Michael Reynolds, and Barbara Smith as well as all participants in the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program for their assistance.
NOTES
Some of this work was conducted as part of the NJAES Project no. 12180, supported by NJAES funds, other grants and gifts. Additional support was received from the U.S. Golf Association–Golf Course Superintendents Association of America Research Fund, the New Jersey Turfgrass Association, and Lebanon Seaboard Corporation. Registration by CSSA.
Accepted for publication November 30, 2004.
REFERENCES
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