Climate change is making droughts more frequent and severe, threatening food and energy security worldwide. Collaborative initiatives of breeders and researchers aims to develop new grass varieties that can survive these harsh conditions, and one promising approach combines genes from two related grass species. We tested a new cultivar called "AberRoot" that blends traits from perennial ryegrass and a drought-tolerant fescue, finding that plants carrying genes from the fescue survived droughts much better. We pinpointed a specific region on one chromosome linked to superior drought resistance, offering a clear target for future breeding programs. These results show that we can create climate-resilient grasslands by carefully transferring drought-survival genes from wild relatives, opening a practical path to more sustainable farming in an increasingly unpredictable climate.
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