Green Emperor Perennial Ryegrass
Green Emperor Perennial Ryegrass is the result of a breeding effort to develop a Perennial Ryegrass cultivar with high turfgrass quality, improved winter hardiness, improved resistance to diseases (especially gray leaf spot and crown rust), and high seed yield potential in northern Minnesota. Green Emperor was developed jointly by the University of Minnesota and Rutgers University. Green Emperor was developed by crossing the ‘Spreader III’ population from the University of Minnesota with an elite Perennial Ryegrass population at Rutgers University. Spreader III had exhibited excellent turf density and lateral growth in mowed turf while also having improved winter hardiness and reduced steminess (flowering culm production in mowed plots, which is an undesirable turfgrass quality characteristic); however, the population lacked the darker color and disease resistance. Germplasm from the Rutgers program provided high turfgrass quality and excellent resistance to common diseases.