Thursday, November 16, 2006 - 8:15 AM
315-4
Bermudagrass Response to Simulated Traffic and Late-Season Nutrient Applications.
Bermudagrass is a preferred turfgrass species for football fields due to its ability to recover rapidly from intense use. The potential for substantial winter-kill has limited bermudagrass use in the upper transition zone. However, newer cold-hardy cultivars and the availability of seeded bermudagrass which make establishment easy and less expensive has stimulated interest in bermudagrass use for this region. Currently, very little data exists regarding the performance of newer bermudagrass cultivars when subject to various combinations of nitrogen (N) and foliar (Fe) applications or traffic. A three-year field study in West Lafayette, IN evaluated the autumn performance and winter survival of several commercially available bermudagrass cultivars (‘Mirage’, ‘Riviera’, ‘Quickstand’ and ‘Yukon’) as affected by autumn N applications; ranging from 0-98 kg N ha-1, iron 0-6.8 kg Fe ha-1 or both applied either in Sept. only or Sept. and October. Additionally, simulated traffic was imposed from late-Aug. through early November to one-half of the plots. Among cultivars, ‘Riviera’ was the most consistently tolerant of traffic and ‘Quickstand’ the least. All cultivars except ‘Mirage’ survived the winter of 2003 to varying degrees. Traffic tolerance was the factor most affecting spring green-up and winter survival. No negative effects of late-season N applications on winter survival were observed in any year. However, late-season N, Fe or N+Fe significantly improved color retention, especially during Oct., but not traffic recovery. These data indicate that an improved cultivar like ‘Riviera’ can effectively be used for fall use athletic fields in the upper transition zone.
Recorded presentation