PLOIDY AND CULTIVAR GROUP-DIFFERENCES IN THE 1000-SEED WEIGHT OF RED FESCUE (FESTUCA-RUBRA L)

Three major cultivar groups of red fescue (Festuca rubra L.) are recog nized, viz. strongly creeping and octoploid, slender creeping and hexa ploid, and non-creeping and hexaploid (Chewings), but a thousand-seed weight (TSW) of 0.74 g is often used commercially for the species. Bas ed on 12 cultivars/group, the TSW of the strongly creeping group (1.22 5 g) was significantly higher than the slender creeping group (0.894 g ) and the Chewings group (0.936 g); the higher TSW was probably a cons equence of the higher ploidy status. The TSW of 0.74 g is not characte ristic of many contemporary red fescue cultivars, particularly the str ongly creeping octoploids.