Abstract
Drought tolerance of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) is one of the constraints for the use of this forage species in drought prone areas. Global climate change with increasing fluctuation in rainfall patterns will further limit its use in larger areas of Europe. The aim of this study was to investigate whether there is genotypic variation for carbon isotope discrimination in drought tolerance of selected perennial ryegrass as a measure for water use efficiency. The phenotypic selection for drought tolerance is not generally correlated with carbon isotope composition within the material investigated. For one genotype with good phenotypic drought tolerance a significant difference in intrinsic water use efficiency was found under stress conditions. It is also shown, that water use efficiency is not the only drought tolerance mechanism within perennial ryegrass, as other drought tolerant genotypes show no significant differences in intrinsic water use efficiency but a good recovery after drought stress at the same time.
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