Turfgrass Wear Tolerance Mechanisms: II. Effects of Cell Wall Constituents on Turfgrass Wear Tolerance¹

Abstract

This investigation was conducted to assess the relationship of cell wall constituents of seven cool‐season turfgrass species to wear tolerance. The turfgrass literature contains no data of this nature. The percent total cell wall (TCW), lignocellulose (ADF), cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin were determined on a gram dry weight and mg/dm2 basis. Species differed significantly in cell wall constituents for both methods of determination. The relative ranking of the species based on the content of various cell wall constituents expressed on a gram dry weight basis was as follows: Cascade chewings fescue (Festuca rubra var. commutata Gaud) > Pennlawn red fescue (F. rubra L.) and Kentucky 31 tall fescue (F. arundinacea Schreb.) > Manhattan perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) > Merion Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.) > Italian ryegrass (L. multiflorum Lam.) > rough bluegrass (P. trivialis L.). However, the species ranked as follows when the cell wall components were expressed on mg/dm2 basis: Kentucky 31 > Manhattan and Merion > Pennlawn and Italian ryegrass > Cascade > rought bluegrass. Cell wall constituents reported on a g/dry wt. basis were not correlated individually to wear tolerance. However, the combined effects of TCW, ADF, cellulose, and lignin accounted for 96% of the observed wear tolerance variation among the seven turfgrass species studied. TCW, ADF, cellulose, and hemicellulose contents expressed as mg/dm2 were significantly correlated individually to wear tolerance. Their combined effects accounted for 97% of the variation in inter‐species wear tolerance. Total cell wall content expressed on a mg/dm2 basis accounted for 98% of the variation in wear tolerance among the seven turfgrass species. Cell wall constituents were found to increase significantly with plant maturity, with the exception of hemicellulose. TCW increased significantly during the period from July to September, but declined in all species during October. The TCW, ADF, cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin contents of leaf blades were significantly less than for the leaf sheath for all species.

Mechanisms of Wear Tolerance in Seashore Paspalum and Bermudagrass

“…Although differences between species for lignin content were only seen in leaf tissue during Study 1, bermudagrass had a small increase (3% of the total variation in the regression model) in wear tolerance due to the presence of lignin. This is in agreement with reports of Beard (1973) and Shearman and Beard (1975b), based on lignin expressed in weight per unit area.…”

“…Wear tolerance in bermudagrass was enhanced by greater stem and leaf lignocellulose content. Shearman and Beard (1975b) found no correlation between wear tolerance and lignocellulose content. Leaf lignocellulose content was higher in paspalum ( and 0.17 in Studies 1 and 2, respectively), while stem tissue was greater in bermudagrass in both studies ( and 0.01, respectively).…”

“…Canaway (1981) also reported a negative correlation between wear tolerance and percentage of cellulose content in seven cool‐season grasses. However, cellulose content per unit area was positively correlated with wear tolerance of several cool‐season species, while cellulose on a dry weight basis was not (Shearman and Beard, 1975b).…”

Long‐Term Effects of Clipping and Nitrogen Management in Turfgrass on Soil Organic Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics

“…Four percent of aboveground standing biomass was cut off during each weekly mowing (i.e., about 16% total aboveground biomass was removed on monthly basis). The other modifications made to default parameterizations included altering lignin content of tissue samples (6% for clippings and shoot, 18% for thatch and roots; Shearman and Beard, 1975; Ledeboer and Skogley, 1967) and reducing the range of plant tissue C to N ratio to 20 to 40 to account for the high litter quality in turfgrass resulting from fertilization and regular mowing. The monthly clipping yield (CRMVST) and aboveground biomass (AGCACC) outputs of the CENTURY model have a unit of g C m −2 We converted them to dry mass by dividing by 0.4268, the average carbon content of Kentucky bluegrass reported by Jo and McPherson (1995) To evaluate the model performance in predicting Kentucky bluegrass monthly clipping yields, we calculated model efficiency (EF), coefficient of determination (CD), mean difference ( M ), and correlation coefficient ( r ) based on statistic procedures outlined in Smith et al (1996)(1997).…”

Characterization, Development, and Management of Organic Matter in Turfgrass Systems

“…These include structural carbohydrates, such as cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin; nonstructural carbohydrates, such as sucrose, fructose, and starch; proteins and other nitrogenous compounds, such as enzymes and nucleic acids; lipids, including waxes, pectins, and pigments; and secondary metabolites, such as terpenoids, alkaloids, and phenylpropanoids (Shearman and Beard, 1975;Hull, 1992;Paul and Clark, 1996;Horwath, 2002Horwath, , 2007Narra et al, 2004Narra et al, , 2005Brosnan et al, 2005;Watkins et al, 2006;He and Huang, 2007;Turgeon, 2008). These vary in proportion depending on the plant type and part, the age of the material, and the extent of decay (Shearman and Beard, 1975;Martens, 2000;Trenholm et al, 2000;Johnson et al, 2007). The Soil Science Society of America (2008, p. 39) defi nes microbial biomass as "the total mass of living microorganisms in a given volume or mass of soil, or as the total weight of all microorganisms in a particular environment."…”