Description:
Willamette Valley Germplasm is the result of minor purposeful selection and open crossing of nine populations for one generation for the limited purpose of improving fitness and genetic diversity over single wild populations. Many wild populations in the Willamette Valley have become small, have apparent lower diversity, and show reduced fitness possibly the result of inbreeding depression stemming from habitat loss and isolation of populations (Wilson et. al., 2008). While this germplasm may be genetically enhanced over such populations of Roemer's fescue, it is not anticipated to have substantial genetic gain in terms of ease of establishment, reproductive capability, and plant growth over other naturally occurring populations found within the same ecoregion that remain fit and diverse.