Abstract
Thirty one cultivars and three synthetics of tall fescue were compared on the row seeding and the space planting for heading habit, herbage yield and seasonal yield distribution. Space planting of entries was performed in November 1982, and row seeding was performed in September 1983. Vigor in spring and fall, summer depression, winter burn and head emergence date of space planted entries were investigated after the summer of 1983, and herbage dry matter yield and plant height were investigated in 1985 and 1986. Herbage dry matter yield in each harvest was correlated significantly to head emergence date in all of the entries. The absolute value of the correlation coefficient was greatest when all entries were evaluated. The correlation coefficients of entries evaluated within the same maturity group were generally non-significant. In early spring and fall, vigor observed in space planting was closely correlated to herbage dry matter yield in row seeding. The entries were classified into six groups by cluster analysis on the basis of 20 characters related to seasonal growth. Clusters I and II a consisted of very early or early maturing entries. Cluster I consisted of five entries bred in Japan and four ones bred in France or U. K. They had high performance throughout the growing season than the entries in cluster II a. Clusters II b, III, IV, V and VI consisted of medium or late maturing entries. The herbage dry matter yields of "Clarine" belonged to cluster II b, and "Hokuryo" belonged to cluster III, were higher than those of the other medium or late maturing entries. "Maris Jebel" and "Maris Kasba", bred from populations collected from North Africa, belonged to the cluster V. These cultivars showed little burn in winter and good growth in early spring.
