Tese new cultivars will have improved drought and salt tolerance, as well as other improvements. To evaluate some of those new experimental grasses that may make the marketplace, NTEP initiated new trials of St. Augustinegrass and seashore paspalum in summer 2016. Second year data from those trials (2018) is now available and is discussed below.
St. Augustinegrass St. Augustinegrass is a species where several
older cultivars are still competitive in the marketplace. Floratam, developed by the University of Florida and Texas A&M and released in 1973, Raleigh, a cold tolerant cultivar, and newer releases Mercedes and Palmetto still compete in the U.S. market. In some areas, sod producers grow and market their own local selections, while there are still common-type cultivars, like Texas Common sold extensively in some markets. New releases such as TamStar and CitraBlue are making their way into the marketplace, which means more, and better cultivar choices will soon be available for sod growers and homeowners alike. Our newest St. Augustinegrass trial includes three
standard entries (Floratam, Raleigh and Palmetto) and twenty-four experimental entries, planted at ten locations. Turf quality data from the first full year of evaluations (2017) showed several entries often outperforming the standard entries. Tis trend continued in 2018 as DALSA 1618 and CitraBlue finished in the top turf quality statistical group at seven of ten locations. Entries also performing well by finishing in the top statistical group at six locations include DALSA 1501, DALSA 1502, and one of our standard entries, Palmetto. CitraBlue was particularly good in the Ft.
Lauderdale, FL, ancillary trial location where plots are maintained with either medium or low fertilizer levels. In both instances, CitraBlue and FSA 1610 were the only entries in the highest statistical group. At our drought tolerance ancillary trial in College Station, TX, DALSA 1501, DALSA 1602 and DALSA 1618 were the top performers in 2018. In general, it seems there are many new experimental St. Augustinegrasses that may rival, and eventually replace standard entries such as Floratam and Raleigh.
Seashore Paspalum Seashore paspalum is known for its salt tolerance,
however some cultivars are valued for their turf quality as well. NTEP initiated testing of seashore paspalum in 2007. Eight new entries plus two standards are included in the new seashore paspalum trial, planted at eight locations in 2016.
Summarized turf quality data from 2018 at
seven locations shows that good progress has been made by breeders as several new experimental entries are performing well. UGP 94 was the most consistent
TPI Turf News July/August 2019
new entry with top statistical group finishes at six of the seven locations, as well as the top performing entry at Fayetteville, AR, Jay, FL, and Griffin, GA. Another experimental entry, UGP 73 also performed well with top statistical group finishes at five locations. Again, as with 2017, standard entry Salam was a
top turf quality statistical group finisher at six locations, while standard entry Sea Isle I was in the top statistical group at four locations. As several trial locations can suffer from cold temperature damage in any winter, these results could change significantly in future years.
Buffalograss Tere has not been sufficient interest to start
a new buffalograss trial, therefore, the data that we compiled from 2002-2006 is the most recent we have available. Considering the four years of data from the 2002 trial, cultivar performance depended mainly on geographical location. Te vegetative cultivar Density had high quality ratings in the southern locations of Tucson, AZ, Riverside, CA, and Dallas, TX, with lower turf quality ratings, relative to other entries, at more northern locations. Legacy, another vegetative entry, had the highest quality rating at Logan, UT, Manhattan, KS, and Lincoln, NE. Several seeded entries again performed well during the trial period, with Tech Turf 1 and Bowie each performing well at more than one location. In addition, Tech Turf 1, Density and SWI 2000 were consistently the fastest to establish. A few buffalograss cultivars have been released
since our last NTEP trial was initiated, two of those cultivars from the University of Nebraska. Prestige is a commercially available vegetative cultivar released in 2003. And most recently, the University of Nebraska released the seeded cultivar Sundancer.
Centipedegrass Centipedegrass performs well in the more
acidic, dense soils of the southeast U.S. and does so with probably the least maintenance required of any warm- season species. Curiously though, improved centipedegrass cultivars have been slow to become commercialized. In fact, NTEP has never tested centipedegrass due to the lack of a significant number of cultivars available. Seeded centipedegrass cultivars are dwarfed in the marketplace by common centipede, the major centipedegrass seed sold. A relatively new cultivar, TifBlair, reportedly more cold- tolerant than other cultivars, has been commercialized within the last several years.
Kevin Morris is executive director of the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program (NTEP). All photos by Kevin Morris unless otherwise noted.
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