One major problem plaguing reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea L.), a high yielding perennial grass, is its poor seed retention. Folded leaf progeny plants from a cross involving a seed-retaining clone were observed in a space-planted nursery. The objectives of this study were to determine whether the folded leaf trait was associated with higher seed retention and other agronomic traits. The inheritance of this trait was also investigated through crosses performed and evaluated in the field and greenhouse. Under solid stand conditions, highly significant differences (p < 0.01) existed between folded and flat leaf polycross progeny entries for heading date and seed retention percentage. Under space-planted conditions folded leaf plants were significantly different (p < 0.05) from flat leaf plants for height, head length, panicle number and growth habit. Widely divergent segregation ratios led to the rejection of the proposed model of inheritance -- disomic inheritance with duplicate gene action.

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