Evaluation of an Electrolyte Leakage Technique to Predict St. Augustinegrass Freezing Tolerance

Abstract

<jats:p>Stolons of `Raleigh', `Floratam', and FX-332 St. Augustinegrass <jats:italic>[Stenotaphrum secundatum</jats:italic> (Walt.) Kuntze] were sampled from the field between October and March in two consecutive years to evaluate accuracy of an electrolyte leakage (EL) method for predicting freezing tolerance. Lethal temperatures of stolons estimated using EL were compared to those obtained by regrowth tests in the greenhouse. Mean lethal low temperatures for regrowth and EL methods over 12 sampling dates were `Floratam', –4.5C (regrowth) vs. –4.4C (EL); FX-332, –4.2C (regrowth) vs. –4.9C (EL); and `Raleigh', –6.0C (regrowth) vs. –5.4C (EL). A positive correlation <jats:italic>(r =</jats:italic> 0.81) was observed between EL-predicted and regrowth lethal temperatures for `Raleigh', which exhibited some acclimation during the first sampling year. The EL technique consistently predicted a lower lethal temperature for `Raleigh' than for `Floratam', which corroborates field observations concerning freezing tolerance of these two cultivars.</jats:p>

Relations between low temperature tolerance and color changes in fall and spring seasons of zoysiagrass (Zoysia japonica Steud.)

“…; Maier et al . ; Anderson and Wu ). Compared to electrolyte leakage, the regrowth test has become more popular due to its ability to simulate the natural low temperature tolerance in the field and produce more reliable results.…”

“…There have been many studies of the temperature tolerance of turfgrass. The two most common methods to evaluate the low temperature tolerance of cool and warm season grasses are to predict lethal temperature at which 50% of plants died (LT 50 ) by measuring electrolyte leakage (Anderson et al 1988) or regrowth of plant tissues after freezing (Anderson et al 1993(Anderson et al , 2007Fry et al 1993;Maier et al 1994;Anderson and Wu 2011). Compared to electrolyte leakage, the regrowth test has become more popular due to its ability to simulate the natural low temperature tolerance in the field and produce more reliable results.…”

Monthly Flurprimidol Applications Reduce Annual Bluegrass Populations in a Creeping Bentgrass Fairway

“…Plant material has been acclimated in growth chambers, followed by exposure to a range of temperatures spanning the presumptive killing temperature in a freeze chamber (2). The combined approach with plant material acclimating in the field, followed by laboratory‐based exposure to sub‐freezing temperatures also has been employed (8,13). Laboratory‐based evaluations generally correspond well with field observations (5,12), and have provided useful information on relative freeze tolerance of turfgrasses.…”

“…GN-1) to -11. [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. OKC 70-18, Ashmore, and Patriot were comparable or superior to the standard vegetativelypropagated cultivar Midlawn, reflecting potential to survive in the northern boundary of the transition zone with a low probability of winterkill.…”

Freezing Tolerance of Field‐ and Growth Chamber–Acclimated Zoysiagrass Hybrids

“…This procedure not only allowed for evaluation of multiple genotypes but also produced rapid and reproducible results without elaborate field testing. Consequently, this method has been used to determine freezing temperature thresholds in other warm‐season turfgrasses, such as St. Augustinegrass and zoysiagrass (Hinton et al, 2012; Maier et al, 1994; Patton and Reicher, 2007; Zhang et al, 2009).…”