Traffic-ability of Dormant Bermudagrass.

Dormant bermudagrass (Cynodon spp.) athletic fields are often used for early season athletic events in the southern United States. In the southeastern U.S, this early season use coincides with a period of cool rainy weather. These fields are subjected to traffic when the grass cannot recover. Furthermore, the soil is often nearly saturated and very susceptible to compaction. A study was initiated in February of 2008, to investigate the traffic tolerance of dormant bermudagrass as well as the effects of this traffic on spring green-up. A dormant bermudagrass plot was exposed to three traffic regimes using a Brinkman Traffic Simulator. The treatments were control (no traffic), moderate traffic (traffic only when foot pressure on the plots did not produce free water), and heavy traffic (traffic every day, unless it was raining). The effects of traffic could be easily observed after two weeks. The trafficked plots began to lose grass cover. After one month of traffic there was measureable evidence of compaction as the elevation of both traffic treatments had declined more than 7 mm compared to the controls.  Early observation of spring bermudagrass green-up showed significant differences in green color due to traffic. The heavy traffic plots were about 5% greened-up while the control plots had 50% green.  The control plots had 100% green cover on May 6th while the plots receiving traffic had 70% green cover.  Winter traffic compacted the soil and delayed bermudagrass green-up compared to no traffic. Based on these findings, limiting dormant athletic field use will result in less maintenance and an earlier green-up.