Evaluación de características morfogenéticas aéreas en gramíneas forrajeras con distinta velocidad de flujo de tejidos

Natural grasslands are the foundation of Uruguay’s livestock production and play a key role in biodiversity conservation and in maintaining the stability of productive systems. In this context, it is essential to understand the strategies of forage species that sustain the productivity and resilience of these ecosystems. One of the farmeworks of plant functional traits distinguishes between acquisitive species, characterized by rapid growth and high short-term productivity, and conservative species, which exhibit slower growth, greater longevity, and higher stress tolerance. Morphogenetic traits are key indicators of these strategies, as they reflect how species allocate and utilize resources. However, there are still few studies that systematically compare these traits under the acquisitive–conservative conceptual framework in local forage species. In this study, four contrasting species were analyzed, with Lolium arundinaceum (Schreb.) Darbysh (Festuca arundinacea) used as a reference species, in order to evaluate the morphological differences associated with each functional strategy.