Wednesday, November 15, 2006
261-1
Color of Six Warm Season Turfgrass Cultivars of Two Species from Winter to Summer.
Steve Ries1, Stephen Cockerham1, Vincent Weng1, and Victor Gibeault2. (1) Univ. of California- Dept. of Agric. Operations, 1060 Martin Luther King Blvd., Riverside, CA 92507, (2) Univ. of California- Dept. of Bot. & Plant Sci., 4106 Batchelor Hall Extension, Riverside, CA 92521-0124
Dark green color is an important trait of warm-season turfgrasses. This study documents the color from winter to summer of three bermudagrass cultivars and three zoysiagrass cultivars using analysis of digital images of the turf surface. Winter green color was not static but increased and declined with soil temperature fluctuations. The color index of both species had the greatest increase when the trailing 7 day mean soil temperature at 15 cm was 13.3°C. The largest color decrease occurred when the trailing 7 day mean soil temperature was 10.0°C for zoysiagrass cultivars and 10.7°C for bermudagrass cultivars. The zoysiagrass cultivars ‘De Anza’ and ‘DALZ 0104’ had a greener surface at some samplings during the winter. ‘Emerald’ was darker green for some samplings in the late spring. During the summer the color of the zoysiagrass cultivars was similar. Bermudagrass cultivars ‘GN-1’ and ‘Tifway’ had a higher color index on a few dates in winter and spring.
Handout (.pdf format, 112.0 kb)