Evaluating Water Use Rates of Turf Bermudagrass Cultivars Under Non-Limiting Soil Moisture Condition in Oklahoma.

In recent years, water availability for human consumption and irrigation is becoming limited, making water conservation a prime concern. Indoor water use rates are fairly constant throughout the year, but outdoor water use rates typically increase during the summer. Increased demand of water during the summer is affected by municipal water use restrictions or mandated use of recycled water for turf use. Although turfgrasses have numerous functional, environmental and economic benefits, it has been criticized for its excessive water requirement. It is crucial to identify turf species that survive with reduced water inputs. This research was designed to evaluate the daily evapotranspiration (ET) rates of bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon) cultivars grown in mini-lysimeters under simulated lawn conditions. Field experiments were conducted at the Oklahoma State University Turf Research Center, Stillwater, OK. Bermudagrass cultivars: ‘Tifway’, ‘Celebration’, ‘Premier’, ‘U3’-TGS, ‘Latitude 36’, ‘Northbridge’, DT-1, OKC-13-02, OKC-11-31 and OKC-11-63 were grown in lysimeters with three replications of each treatment. ET rates were estimated by the lysimeters weighing technique. In the pre-dawn, lysimeters were saturated, drained to field capacity, and the initial weight was recorded. After 24 and 48 hours, lysimeters were weighed again to obtain an estimate of the daily ET rate for each treatment. The results from this study show the potential for irrigation water conservation by adopting bermudagrass cultivars with lower ET rates. However, this data only represents ET rates for non-limiting soil moisture conditions in Oklahoma.