Wednesday, November 7, 2007
268-23
Morphological and Physiological Characteristics of 42 Bermudagrass Cultivars.
Christian Baldwin, Haibo Liu, Lambert McCarty, Nihal Rajapakse, Hong Luo, and Joe Toler. Horticulture, Clemson University, 143 P & A Building, Clemson, SC 29634
Bermudagrass (Cynodon spp.) is the preferred warm-season turfgrass species in the southern United States . While many new commercially available bermudagrass cultivars exist in the market, relatively few studies have examined morphological and physiological characteristics of these new cultivars. Therefore, objectives of this research were to evaluate and compare the seasonal performance of new and experimental bermudagrass cultivars with current bermudagrass industry standards selected from the 2002 National Turfgrass Evaluation Program (NTEP). This type of information would be invaluable to many within the turfgrass industry including sod producers, sports field managers, golf course superintendents, extension personnel, and plant breeders. Data collection included visual turfgrass quality (TQ), % spring green-up, % fall dormancy, shoot chlorophyll concentration, clipping yield, root total non-structural carbohydrates (TNC), and total root biomass. Seeded cultivars include ‘Sunstar’, ‘B-14’, ‘SWI-1003’, ‘SWI-1012’, ‘SWI-1014’, ‘SWI-1041’, ‘SWI-1044’, ‘SWI-1045’, ‘SWI-1046’, ‘Arizona Common’, ‘Numex Sahara’, ‘Princess 77’, ‘Mohawk’, ‘FMC-6’, ‘SWI-1001’, ‘Sundevil’, ‘Southern Star’, ‘Riviera’, ‘Transcontinental’, ‘CIS-CD5’, ‘CIS-CD6’, ‘CIS-CD7’, ‘Panama’, ‘SRX 9500’, ‘Yukon’, ‘Tift No.1’, ‘Tift. No.2’, and ‘PST-R68A’. Vegetative cultivars include ‘Tift No.3’, ‘Tift No,4’, ‘Tifway’, ‘Midlawn’, ‘Tifsport’, ‘MS-Choice’, ‘Aussie Green’, ‘GN-1’, ‘OR 2002’, ‘Ashmore’, ‘Patriot’, ‘OKC 70-18’, and ‘Celebration’. Celebration and Aussie Green, followed by SWI-1046, Riviera , and Tift No.1 were quickest to break winter dormancy. Cultivars with greatest shoot chlorophyll concentration in May and July included Celebration, TifSport, Tifway, SWI-1045, and Tift No.2, 3, and 4. Celebration, MS-Choice, Tift No.2 and 3, and SWI-1014, 1045, and 1046 produced greatest total root biomass in May and July.