ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights various biotechnological approaches which are potentially useful for improvement of tall fescue. Biotechnological approaches to tall fescue improvement can involve either induced or natural genetic variability at the cellular level, followed by regeneration of plants from the cells. The term biotechnology is used in a broad sense and includes various aspects of plant cell and tissue culture that might speed up development of a superior genotype. Approaches to induce variability among cells include chemical mutagens, radiation, protoplast fusion, and microinjection of foreign genes into the cell. The protoplast culture technique enables one to culture individual plant cells from which the cell wall has been removed. Genetically modified protoplasts resulting from somatic hybridization or transformation can be induced to form callus tissue which, in turn, can be induced to differentiate into plantlets. Somatic hybridization and genetic engineering experiments have also been done primarily with dicotyledonous plants.
