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Climate change calls for new methods and plant materials to breed crops adapted to new environmental conditions. High-yielding ryegrasses (
Lolium spp.), which are the most commonly used grass species, suffer during abiotic stresses, but introgression of drought and heat tolerance from closely related fescues (
Festuca spp.) offers an opportunity to develop superior
Festulolium (
Festuca × Lolium) hybrid cultivars. In the last three decades, molecular cytogenetic and genomic approaches have enabled their detailed characterization. These studies revealed a gradual replacement of
Festuca chromosomes by those of
Lolium in consecutive generations leading to an almost complete elimination of
Festuca chromatin in the introgression forms. On the other hand, amphiploid cultivars seem to be more stable with the optimal proportions of the
Lolium to
Festuca genomes at about 2:1. In this mini review, we discuss recent advances in the analysis of the genome composition of
Festulolium hybrids with a specific focus on genome (in)stability.
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