In turfgrass breeding, drought resistance is a primary trait for improvement due to scarcity and reduced quality of water for irrigation. Therefore, in 2010, the turfgrass breeding programs at six public universities joined efforts to address these challenges by cross evaluating breeding lines for the most economically significant warm‐season turfgrass species in the southern United States through a United States Department of Agriculture‐National Institute for Food and Agriculture Specialty Crop Research Initiative funded project. Three breeding cycles were associated with three completed (2010–2014, 2014–2019, and 2019–2024) collaborative grant projects, but the efficiency of this partnership in terms of gains from selection has not been measured. Our objectives were to (1) estimate the expected and realized genetic gain for drought resistance and turfgrass quality for three breeding cycles, (2) compare cultivars developed with support of the projects versus standard cultivars in a historical data analysis, and (3) compare genetic gain for traits assessed visually versus using small unmanned aircraft systems imagery, both in drought and non‐drought environments. For these purposes, historical data were investigated with a retrospective analysis of project trials evaluated 2011–2024. Our findings for the realized genetic gain demonstrated progress in enhancing drought resistance in bermudagrass, St. Augustinegrass, seashore paspalum, and zoysiagrass. In addition, notable positive increments for this trait were documented for each cycle compared to the standard cultivars, particularly in bermudagrass, St. Augustinegrass, and zoysiagrass. While heritability was higher for visually assessed traits, genetic increments were more pronounced for imagery‐assessed traits.

中文翻译：

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增强暖季草坪草的抗旱性：通过美国南部的多州合作项目取得的 14 年进展


在草坪草育种中，由于灌溉用水的稀缺性和质量降低，抗旱性是提高的主要性状。因此，在 2010 年，六所公立大学的草坪草育种计划共同努力应对这些挑战，通过美国农业部-国家食品和农业研究所特种作物研究计划资助的项目，对美国南部最具经济意义的暖季草坪草物种的育种系进行交叉评估。三个育种周期与三个完成的合作资助项目（2010-2014 年、2014-2019 年和 2019-2024 年）相关，但这种伙伴关系在选择收益方面的效率尚未得到衡量。我们的目标是 （1） 估计三个育种周期的抗旱性和草坪草质量的预期和实现遗传增益，（2） 在历史数据分析中比较在项目支持下开发的品种与标准品种，以及 （3） 比较视觉评估与使用小型无人机系统图像的性状的遗传增益，在干旱和非干旱环境中。为此，通过对 2011-2024 年评估的项目试验进行回顾性分析来调查历史数据。我们对实现遗传增益的研究结果表明，在增强百慕大草、圣奥古斯丁草、海滨雀稗和结缕草的抗旱性方面取得了进展。此外，与标准栽培品种相比，每个周期都记录了该性状的显着正增量，尤其是在百慕大草、圣奥古斯丁草和结缕草中。虽然视觉评估性状的遗传力较高，但图像评估性状的遗传增量更为明显。