Summary
Abstract Climate change associated with a greater variability of inter‐ and intra‐annual droughts and the occurrence of extreme events act in combination to challenge semi‐natural and sown productive grasslands in Europe. Successful plant strategies under drought strongly depend on stress intensity. Drought resistance to maintain leaf growth under moderate stress trades off with drought survival after growth cessation under life‐threatening drought. Substantial intra‐specific variability exists in key forage grasses originating from the Mediterranean to the cool‐temperate climates and represents a great potential for adaptation of future ecotypes and cultivars to a larger range of drought intensities. Plant species diversity offers an opportunity to stabilize forage production in two ways.
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