A comparative analysis of agronomic water-use efficiency and its proxy measures as derived from key morpho-physiological and supportive quantitative genetics attributes of perennial ryegrass under imposed drought.

Water-use efficiency (WUE) is an under-researched but very important drought tolerance trait in forage breeding. This research estimated quantitative genetic parameters of morpho-physiological traits linked to agronomic water-use efficiency (WUE) and its proxy measures based on δC (WUE) or gas exchange (evapotranspiration, WUE, or stomatal conductance WUE) of genotypes from half-sib families of L. (PRG) in a simulated summer drought cycle.