Tall Fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.)

Abstract

Tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) is the predominant cool-season perennial grass in the United States. It is widely used for both forage and turf purposes. This chapter describes a protocol that allows for the generation of large number of transgenic tall fescue plants by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Embryogenic calli induced from caryopsis are used as explants for inoculation with A. tumefaciens. The Agrobacterium strain used is EHA105. Hygromycin phosphotransferase gene (hph) is used as the selectable marker and hygromycin is used as the selection agent. Calli resistant to hygromycin are obtained after 4-6 wk of selection. Soil-grown tall fescue plants can be regenerated 4-5 mo after Agrobacterium-mediated transformation.

Overexpression of a chloroplast-localized small heat shock protein OsHSP26 confers enhanced tolerance against oxidative and heat stresses in tall fescue

“…is the predominant perennial cool-season grass grown for hay and pasture. Adaptation to a wide range of soil conditions, tolerance to continuous grazing, high yield persistence and compatibility with varied management practices make it a widely used forage grass (Ge and Wang 2006;Sleper and West 1996). However, tall fescue is susceptible to warmer weather and grows poorly in mid-summer.…”