ISU Horticulture Publications: 2002 Turfgrass Report

Bermuda Species Traffic Study

D.D. Minner and F.J. Valverde

Introduction

Seeded bermudagrass has been used in northern climates to repair worn athletic fields during the summer (Gaussion et al., 2001). The basic idea is to produce a fast crop of biomass on exposed-bare-soil areas of an athletic field. Football practice fields re-established this way during the summer are superior to weedy and sparsely covered fields by the end of August or start of the fall football season . The bermuda may die in the winter, but there is a net gain of biomass cover. The following study continues these philosophy by evaluating bermudagrass varieties and mixtures with cool season grasses.

Objective

To evaluate seeded and sprigged bermudagrass varieties to repair intensively trafficked areas of northern athletic fields.

To evaluate mixtures of cool and warm season grasses.

Methods

This study was established at the Horticulture Research Farm in Ames Iowa on 11 July 2001. The trial combined 12 combinations of grass species and 2 levels of traffic, for a total of 24 treatments. The experimental design was a randomized complete block with split-plot arrangement. Whole plots consisted of grass species and split plots were traffic levels. There were 3 replications for a total of 72 sample units of 2 ft x 12 ft. The species or combinations of species and the establishment method used appear in table 1.

Table 1. Description of species and cultivars and establishment method.

Treat.	Species A	Planting time	Species B	Planting time	Establishment method
1	Yukon	Jul-11	~~~	~~~	Seed
2	Primo	Jul-11	~~~	~~~	Seed
3	Primo	Jul-11	Perennial Rye	Jul-11	Seed
4	Primo	Jul-11	Creeping Bentgrass	Jul-11	Seed
5	Primo	Jul-11	Kentucky Bluegrass	Jul-11	Seed
6	Primo	Jul-11	Perennial Rye	Aug-21	Seed
7	Zoysia	Jul-11	~~~	~~~	Seed
8	Westwood	Jul-11	~~~	~~~	Sprigging
9	Quickstand	Jul-11	~~~	~~~	Sprigging
10	Creeping Bentgrass	Jul-11	~~~	~~~	Seed
11	Perennial Rye	Jul-11	~~~	~~~	Seed
12	Kentucky Bluegrass	Jul-11	~~~	~~~	Seed

Traffic treatments were applied with a GA-SWC traffic simulator (Carrow et al., 2001) on 11 September with 2 and 4 passes each Monday, Wednesday and Friday during the first month. From October 8 to November 1, traffic simulation was increased from 2/4 passes to 3/6 passes each day.

The variables measured were % turf cover, turf color and turf quality. Data was collected monthly, from 23 July to 2 November 2001. Plant samples were collected on 4 November to measure biomass.

Results

Table 2. Percent turf cover for various grass combinations and two levels of traffic. Traffic was applied from 11 Sepetember to 1 November 2001.

Species	Traffic Lev.	7/23/2001	8/21/2001	9/11/2001	9/24/2001	10/8/2001	11/2/2001
Species	Traffic Lev.	--------------------------------------- % cover ------------------------------------------
Yukon	2x	23	85	88	97	98	90
Primo		27	100	100	100	100	100
Primo + PR1		50	98	100	100	100	98
Primo + CB		35	100	100	100	100	93
Primo + KB		22	100	100	100	100	100
Primo + PR2		22	100	100	100	100	97
Zoysia		5	0	33	0	0	0
Westwood		38	98	100	100	100	100
Quickstand		43	100	100	100	100	100
Creeping B.		30	27	58	77	78	48
Perennial R.		47	62	82	93	95	97
Kentucky B.		22	0	8	0	0	15
Yukon	4x	23	85	88	100	98	90
Primo		27	100	100	98	100	88
Primo + PR1		50	98	100	98	98	87
Primo + CB		35	100	100	98	98	77
Primo + KB		22	100	100	100	98	80
Primo + PR2		22	100	100	98	97	78
Zoysia		5	0	33	0	0	0
Westwood		38	98	100	100	100	87
Quickstand		43	100	100	100	100	92
Creeping B.		30	27	58	58	45	15
Perennial R.		47	62	82	87	92	78
Kentucky B.		22	0	8	0	0	2

Table 3. Turf color* observed in different species under traffic stress.

Species	8/21/2001	9/24/2001	10/8/2001	11/2/2001
Yukon	8.3	8.5	5.6	1.7
Primo	7.0	7.5	4.8	1.0
Primo + PR1	7.5	8.7	6.8	6.4
Primo + CB	7.0	7.6	4.8	1.3
Primo + KB	7.0	7.7	4.8	1.3
Primo + PR2	7.3	8.2	5.3	2.3
Zoysia	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Westwood	8.2	8.0	4.8	1.3
Quickstand	8.2	7.4	4.7	1.0
Creeping B.	2.5	7.8	6.7	5.8
Perennial R.	9.0	9.3	8.7	8.3
Kentucky B.	0.0	0.0	0.0	3.0

*Color ratings based on a scale of 1-10, where 10 is the most desirable green and 6 the least acceptable; 1 is completely discolorated grass

Literature cited

Carrow, R.N., R.R. Duncan, J.E. Worley and R.C. Shearman. 2001. Turfgrass traffic (soil compactation plus wear) simulator response of Paspalum vaginatum and Cynodon spp. p. 253-258. In K. Carey (ed.). Int. Turf. Soc. Research J. Vol. 9.

Gaussoin, R.E., D.D. Minner, S. Keeley, and M. Vaitkus. 2001. Annual seeding of Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers. For improved performance of heavily trafficked athletic fields in temperate climates p. 865-869. In K. Carey (ed.). Int. Turf. Soc. Research J. Vol. 9.

ISU Horticulture:Publications:2002 Turfgrass Report

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