Response of Six Bermudagrass Cultivars to Different Irrigation Intervals

Abstract

<jats:p>A 2-year greenhouse study was conducted at Clemson University, Clemson, S.C., in 2003 and 2004 to determine drought responses of six bermudagrass (<jats:italic>Cynodon</jats:italic> spp.) cultivars at four irrigation intervals. Cultivars selected from the 2002 National Turfgrass Evaluation Program Bermudagrass Trial were `SWI-1012', `Arizona Common', `Tift No.3', `Tifsport', `Aussie Green', and `Celebration'. Treatments included 5-, 10-, and 15-day irrigation intervals plus a control (irrigated daily). Volumetric soil water content (VSWC) and evapotranspiration (ET) rates were recorded every 3 days. Turfgrass quality (TQ) was observed weekly and root weight was measured at the end of a 6-week study. `Aussie Green' and `Celebration' produced the highest TQ rating (&gt;7) at week 4 when watered daily. After 4 weeks of the 5-day irrigation interval, all cultivars showed unacceptable quality ratings (&lt;7). However, `Aussie Green' and `Celebration' were able to maintain an acceptable TQ rating (7), compared to `Arizona Common' (5.1) and `Tift No.3' (5.8) at week 2 (5-day treatment). `Celebration' produced 114% and 97% greater root weight than `Tifsport' and `Aussie Green', respectively, when pooled across all irrigation treatments. At the 15-day irrigation interval treatment, six bermudagrass cultivars pooled together produced 78%, 22%, and 11% greater root weight vs. control, 5-day, and 10-day treatments, respectively. When pooled for all treatments, `Aussie Green' and `Celebration' VSWC was 5% and 7% lower than `Tift No.3', and ET rates were 26% and 30% greater than `Arizona Common'. Based on these results, irrigating bermudagrass in 5-day intervals should be carefully monitored.</jats:p>

Reducing turfgrass water consumption using sensor nodes and an adaptive irrigation controller

“…θ P W P is the permanent wilting point which is the point at which roots can no longer extract water from the soil. Using a deficit irrigation strategy, our model provides slightly less water than required by the lawn as research has shown that the introduction of small crop stress actually can improve the quality of turfgrass [19], [20].…”

Identification of proteins associated with water‐deficit tolerance in C4 perennial grass species, Cynodon dactylon×Cynodon transvaalensis and Cynodon dactylon

“…), are generally better adapted to drying environments compared with C 3 grass species because of the more efficient C 4 photosynthesis pathway (Fry and Huang 2004). In addition, there is a wide range of genetic variations in water‐deficit tolerance among different species of C 4 grasses, such as bermudagrass, which provide great genetic sources for improving stress tolerance (Baldwin et al 2006, Hanna 1998, Taliaferro 1995). Triploid hybrid bermudagrass ( Cynodon dactylon × Cynodon transvaalensis ) has been developed to produce highly desirable turf quality with limited irrigation (Hanna 1998).…”

Assessing evidence on the agronomic and environmental impacts of turfgrass irrigation management

“…Overall, no major turfgrass quality impact was reported for intervals of up to 4 days. In contrast, when the irrigation interval was longer, the average turfgrass quality declined as irrigation frequency was lower (Baldwin, Liu, McCarty, Bauerle, & Toler, ; Fry & Butler, ; Peacock & Dudeck, ). Both cool and warm‐season turfgrasses followed a similar trend of declining turfgrass quality as the interval between irrigation events became longer.…”

“…Baldwin et al. () reported that the root biomass of bermudagrass ( Cynodon spp.) was 46%, 61% and 78% greater when irrigated at 5‐, 10‐ and 15‐day intervals compared to daily irrigation.…”

“…Both cool and warm-season turfgrasses followed a similar trend of declining turfgrass quality as the interval between irrigation events became longer. The differences in turfgrass quality between studies with the same irrigation interval as shown in Figure 3 were caused by different (i) irrigation amounts (Aamlid, Kvalbein, & Pettersen, 2012;Fry & Butler, 1989), (ii) varieties of the same species (Baldwin et al, 2006) and (iii) years of study (Fry & Butler, 1989;Fu & Dernoeden, 2009a;Jordan et al, 2003); this last factor possibly being related to both weather conditions and turf age.…”