Water Availability and Restrictions Are Becoming More Widespread.

Drought restrictions may be imposed on turf managers with no regard for damage to turfgrass.  For turf managers, thriving in an industry where turf quality is the number one priority is difficult when water is limiting.  Therefore, research investigating turfgrass resistance to drought stress has become increasingly important.  The objective of this study was to evaluate the response of Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.) (KBG) to prolonged drought in the transition zone.  Irrigation was withheld from 30 bluegrasses for 60 days, and plots were protected from rainfall by an automated rainout shelter near Manhattan, KS.  Visual color, quality, and digitial images were collected weekly for all 30 bluegrasess during the dry down.  Digital images were analyzed using Sigmascan Pro., which calculated percent green turfgrass cover for each plot.    In addition, several physiological parameters including electrolyte leakage, gross photosynthesis, and water potential were measured for six cultivars.  These six cultivars were selected due to their broad range of water use as determined in an earlier study, which hypothetically represents a broad range of drought tolerance.  First year results suggest the Compact America and Mid Atlantic phenotypic groups may recover quicker from prolonged drought stress.  Specifically, cultivars ‘Cabernet’ and ‘Apollo’ both exhibited higher visual color and quality during recovery than the other cultivars.  Additionally, ‘Apollo’ had the highest percent turfgrass cover on nine out of 10 dates in 2010.  This study will be replicated at the same location during the summer of 2011.