Breeding heat tolerant orchardgrass germplasm for summer persistence in high temperature stress environments of the southeastern United States

This is digital research data corresponding to a published manuscript, Breeding heat tolerant orchardgrass germplasm for summer persistence in high temperature stress environments of the southeastern United States, in Crop Science, Volume 61, p. 1915 - 1925. Orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.) could serve as a cool-season perennial in southeastern production systems, but often does not behave as a true perennial under high temperature stress conditions of the region. This work sought to develop heat-tolerant orchardgrass germplasm through recurrent phenotypic selection (RPS) that would both reduce secondary seed dormancy caused by high soil temperatures and improve stand persistence over summer months. Selection was conducted in a growth chamber 40/30 °C (12/12 h, light/darkness), with germinated seedlings subjected to an additional 2–3 weeks of 40/30 °C conditions. The base germplasm (Cycle 0) and selected individuals (Cycles 1–3) were transplanted into the field, then harvested for s...