Thursday, November 8, 2007 - 11:00 AM
337-13
Response of Kentucky Bluegrass Cultivars to Wear and Compaction.
A better understanding of damage caused by traffic would enable turf managers to prioritize cultural practices that address the most important stress and assist breeders in developing screening procedures for germplasm. The objective of this study was to identify the relative importance of wear and compaction to performance of Kentucky bluegrass cultivars. Wear (no-wear and wear) and compaction (no-compaction and compaction) were applied in a factorial combination to eighteen Kentucky bluegrass cultivars grown on a sandy loam from March to November and April to November in 2004 and 2005, respectively. Plots were visually rated for fullness of turfgrass cover (100% = full turfgrass cover) throughout the study. Verdure of nine cultivars was sampled after traffic treatment in November 2004 and 2005. Generally, fullness of cover was reduced more by wear than compaction treatment. However, the reduction in cover from compaction was greater in 2005 than 2004 suggesting a cumulative effect for this chronic stress. The fullness of cover data indicated that the relative ranking of cultivars in response to wear was more consistent across both levels of compaction than the cover response of cultivars to compaction across both levels of wear. Julia maintained the best cover in response to compaction in plots that received wear, whereas Julia had the poorest cover in response to compaction in plots that did not receive wear. Analysis of variance of verdure data indicated that the compaction effect was independent of cultivar, whereas the wear effect was dependent on the cultivar in 2004 and 2005. Verdure of Julia, Princeton 105, and Jefferson was not reduced by wear in 2004 and 2005; verdure of Langara, Coventry , Brooklawn, and Touchdown was reduced by wear in 2004 and 2005. These results suggest that it may not be necessary to apply compaction as well as wear when testing Kentucky bluegrass cultivar performance under wear. However, testing for performance under compaction may need to consider the importance of including wear. Turf managers would benefit from selecting cultivars that have demonstrated tolerance to wear since this stress caused the most immediate and greatest reduction in cover.
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