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- Author or Editor: Paul G. Johnson x
With the exception of the undesirable characteristic of summer dormancy and the accompanying low aesthetic value, crested wheatgrass has many desirable characteristics in semiarid environments, making it a promising candidate for lower water use turf. Using a population of 27 half-sib families, this study characterized the underlying genetics of turf quality (based on a 1–9 rating scale) of crested wheatgrass and compared the performance of crested wheatgrass turf with traditional control cultivars (‘Cody’ buffalograss, ‘Gazelle’ tall fescue, ‘Manhattan 3’ perennial ryegrass, and ‘Midnight’ Kentucky bluegrass) over 2 years under space-planted conditions. Heritability estimates were generally high (h2 = 0.44 to 0.84) and suggested a strong additive genetic component for crested wheatgrass turf quality throughout the summer months. Genotypic correlations among the monthly turf quality scores were very high (greater than 0.90) indicating a strong commonality for the genetics underlying turf quality during any point in the growing season. Thus, a breeding program aimed at improving turf quality in this population of crested wheatgrass would stand a good chance for success. However, primarily as a result of summer dormancy, the crested wheatgrass turf performed poorly compared with the control cultivars during late spring and early summer. Turf quality scores in early July were ≈3 for the crested wheatgrass half-sib families compared with scores between 5 and 6 for the traditional turf species. Thus, crested wheatgrass, for the near future, will likely be a viable turf candidate only in situations in which turf aesthetics are secondary to a desire for low-input requiring species.
Broad concerns over water shortages and drought where irrigated urban landscapes are common in high desert regions have focused attention on drought tolerance of turfgrass species. We investigated the physiological responses of kentucky bluegrass (KBG) and tall fescue (TF) under a prolonged drought under high desert conditions. The experimental design was a split plot with three replicates. Two irrigation treatments as a whole plot—well-watered and no water—were applied to subplots of ‘Midnight’ KBG and ‘Gazelle’ TF. Stomatal conductance (g S), canopy temperature, and predawn leaf water potential were measured over two seasons. KBG g S and leaf water potential decreased faster and to a greater extent than TF in response to soil drying, and KBG was in complete dormancy and brown within 5 weeks after cessation of irrigation. By contrast, TF maintained a green canopy throughout the drought periods. In the no-water plots, TF appeared to consume water from the deepest measured soil profiles (80- to 100-cm depth), whereas KBG used most of the water in the 50- to 60-cm depths. When watered for recovery in late summer, KBG plots were mostly green within 3 weeks after rewatering. The surface temperature of the well-watered plots was 6–13 °C cooler than the no-water plots and TF showed 5–7 °C lower temperature than KBG in no-water plots. TF is suitable for deep soil, exploiting a larger volume of water to avoid drought, whereas KBG's rapid drought avoidance would likely perform better in shallow landscape soils under drought.
Much of semiarid western North America is salt affected, and using turfgrasses in salty areas can be challenging. Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.) is relatively susceptible to salt stress, showing reduced growth, osmotic and ionic stress, and eventual death at moderate or high salt concentrations. Considerable variation exists for salt tolerance among kentucky bluegrass germplasm, but gaining consistency among studies and entries has been a challenge. In this study, two novel kentucky bluegrass accessions recently reported as salt tolerant (PI 371768 and PI 440603) and two cultivars commonly used as references (Baron and Midnight) were compared for their turf quality (TQ), stomatal conductance (g S), leaf water potential (ψLEAF), electrolyte leakage (EL), and accumulation of inorganic ions under salt stress. TQ, ψLEAF, and EL were highly correlated with each other while only moderately correlated with g S. The tolerant accessions showed higher ψLEAF and lower EL than the cultivars Midnight and Baron at increasing salt concentrations and over 28 days of treatment. The accumulation of sodium (Na) and calcium (Ca) in the leaves was highly correlated and did not vary significantly among the four entries. Genes involved in ion transport across membranes, and in antioxidant activities, were significantly induced on salt stress in the tolerant accessions relative to the susceptible. These data indicate the ability of tolerant accessions to ameliorate oxidative stress and prevent EL, and confirmed the tolerance of germplasm previously reported on while indicating mechanisms by which they tolerate the salt stress.
As competition for water resources in areas of western North America intensify as a result of increasing human populations, the sustainability of turfgrass irrigation with limited water resources is questionable. A potential part of the solution is the use of recycled wastewater for landscape irrigation. However, as a result of high levels of salt, successful irrigation with recycled wastewater will likely need to be coupled with selection for increased salinity tolerance in turfgrass species. Additionally, salinity-tolerant turfgrass will allow production on soils with inherently high salt levels. The study described here characterized the relative salinity tolerance of 93 accessions of Poa germplasm from the USDA National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS). Control cultivars of tall fescue [Lolium arundinaceum (Schreb.) S.J. Darbyshire], perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.), and kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.) were also evaluated for comparison. Kentucky bluegrass accessions exhibited a wide range of LD50 (salinity dosage necessary to kill 50% of plants) values from 811 ECdays (PI 369296 from Russia) to 1922 ECdays (PI 371768 from the United States). Five kentucky bluegrass accessions exhibited salinity tolerance equal to or better than that of the tall fescue (LD50 = 1815 ECdays) and perennial ryegrass (LD50 = 1754 ECdays) checks. Thus, there is sufficient variation within this species to develop bluegrass with substantially higher salinity tolerance.
Although transplanted trees typically establish and grow without incident in frequently irrigated turfgrass, their performance in precisely irrigated turfgrass in an arid climate is not known. We investigated the effect of precision irrigation scheduling on growth and water relations of balled-and-burlapped littleleaf linden (Tilia cordata Mill. `Greenspire') planted in buffalograss (Buchloë dactyloides [Nutt.] Engelm. `Tatanka') and kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.). Over 2 years, trees in turfgrass were irrigated either by frequent replacement based on local reference evapotranspiration, or precision irrigated by estimating depletion of soil water to the point of incipient water stress for each turfgrass species. Predawn leaf water potential and stomatal conductance of trees were measured during first-year establishment, and predawn leaf water potential was measured during a mid-season water-deficit period during the second year. Trunk diameter growth and total tree leaf area were measured at the end of each year. Values of predawn leaf water potential and stomatal conductance of trees in precision-irrigated buffalograss were lower (–0.65 MPa, 25.3 mmol·m–2·s–1) than those of trees in the other treatments near the end of the first growing season. The longer interval between precision irrigations resulted in mild water stress, but was not manifested in growth differences among trees across treatments during the first season. During the water-deficit period of the second year, there was no evidence of stress among the trees regardless of treatment. At the end of the second season, total leaf area of trees grown in precision-irrigated kentucky bluegrass (1.10 ± 0.34 m2) was 46% of that of trees grown in buffalograss (2.39 ± 0.82 m2) that were irrigated frequently. Trunk diameter growth of trees in frequently irrigated kentucky bluegrass (1.91 ± 2.65 mm) was 29% of that of the trees grown in buffalograss (6.68 ± 1.68 mm), regardless of irrigation treatment, suggesting a competition effect from kentucky bluegrass. We conclude that frequent irrigation of balled-and-burlapped trees in turfgrass, particularly buffalograss, is more conducive to tree health during establishment than is maximizing the interval between turfgrass irrigation. Regardless of irrigation schedule, kentucky bluegrass appears to impact tree growth severely during establishment in an arid climate.
Management of agricultural irrigation water is extremely important as fresh water resources are being depleted on a global scale. In anticipation of regulatory restrictions, several greenhouse and nursery operations in New Jersey have implemented systems that disinfect and recycle their irrigation water. This study compared the disinfection methods at two greenhouses and three container nurseries, focusing on the qualitative and quantitative benefits of using chlorine gas, ultraviolet light, ozone, and copper for water disinfection. The data were collected during on-site visits where the growers were interviewed on camera. A cost analysis was performed, but the most efficient disinfection technique could not be determined due to the variability between businesses and various unquantifiable benefits of proactive water management recycling, such as improved plant health, decreased fungicide and fertilizer use, a cleaner operation, reduced runoff, reduced pressure on aquifers, and increased customer satisfaction. The investment and maintenance costs per hectare and 1000 L were calculated, which can be useful reference tools for growers. The net present value (NPV) of each disinfection system was calculated to analyze the profitability of the investments. All three container nurseries had positive NPV values and profitable investments, which improved with cost sharing from the National Resource Conservation Service. This information will be useful in the future as growers throughout the state, and country, may be required to deal with the stricter regulation of their irrigation runoff.
Continued reduction in limited natural resources worldwide increasingly necessitates the incorporation of low-maintenance and low-input plant materials into urban landscapes. Some fine-leaved Festuca grass species have been used in formal gardens and native urban landscapes because of their inherent tolerance to abiotic stresses, but native, ornamental types (tall and non-spreading with multicolored culms and panicles) are not common in landscapes of the western United States. A native fine-leaved Festuca collection made in Montana (designated FEID 9025897) by the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Services possesses such ornamental characteristics but has not been evaluated for its horticultural potential. Therefore, a study was designed to assess its phenotypic and genotypic attributes by cloning 270 FEID 9025897 plants and evaluating them along with native F. idahoensis and F. ovina PIs (five) and commercial checks (five) for genetic diversity and plant morphology for 2 years (2010–11). Plant genetic constitution was determined using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis. Plant height, width, biomass, relative vigor (visual rating of 0 = dead to 5 = green, abundant growth), persistence (number of plants alive per plot), and regrowth after clipping (visual rating of 0 = none to 5 = most) were estimated by evaluation of plants under replication at Hyde Park, UT. Based on AFLP-based coancestry analysis, FEID 9025897 plants possessed considerable genetic affinities with F. idahoensis. Morphological traits as averaged over both years varied in height (13.9 to 105.0 cm), width (9.9 to 66.2 cm), biomass (0 to 170.4 g), vigor (0.2 to 4.7), persistence (0 to 3.9), and regrowth (0 to 4.0). Based on these differences, 19 (7%) FEID 9025897 plants were identified for their ornamental potential that possessed multicolored (red, orange, and yellow) culms and varied in morphology with 2-year means of height (79.8 cm), width (45.2 cm), biomass (88.5 g), vigor (2.9), persistence (1.8), and regrowth (3.7).
Visual ratings are the standard for evaluating turfgrass quality. However, to provide more objective evaluations and to address statistical concerns, other methods have been developed to measure turfgrass quality, including digital image analysis and measurements of chlorophyll content. These have been largely applied to traditionally used turfgrass species, but here we used these methods to evaluate turfgrass quality of nontraditional species and mixtures that are native or adapted to the intermountain west region of North America. Two fertilizer treatments (1.0 or 2.0 lb/1000 ft2 nitrogen) were applied to 21 different species and species mixtures in North Logan, UT. These plots were irrigated to replace 60% of the local evapotranspiration rate and were mowed at 4 inches. Turfgrass quality ratings were most effective in measuring quality among the diverse species used in this study. Because of the wider variation in acceptable visual characteristics and lower quality expectations for low-maintenance native turf, the objective evaluation methods proved less useful. Generally, chlorophyll meter data, digital image analysis of cover, and digital image analysis of color data were not well correlated with human visual quality ratings in this study. Measurements were well correlated in some species, but not in others. These methods can supplement, but cannot replace, human visual turfgrass quality ratings for comparison of dissimilar grasses.