Nick E. Christians, David D. Minner, and Shui-Zhang Fei
The following research report is the 24th yearly publication of the results of turfgrass research projects performed at Iowa State University. This is the sixth year that the entire report is available on the Internet. This report and the previous years' reports can be accessed at:
http://turfgrass.hort.iastate.edu/
In 2002-2003, a new genotype screening trial of Roundup Ready® creeping bentgrass has been initiated. A trial on fairway and green conversion with Roundup Ready® creeping bentgrass has also been established at Veenker Memorial Golf Course to study the timing and frequency of Roundup application to ensure a smooth transition with minimal disturbance. Morphological and genetic characterization of a number of turfgrass species including Poa trivialis, colonial and velvet bentgrass, and Kentucky bluegrass are being conducted to study the range and the pattern of the variation and reproductive mode for breeding purposes. Another major project is the study of winter hardiness of perennial ryegrass using both conventional and molecular marker tools with a long-term goal of breeding winter hardy perennial ryegrass.
We experienced a dry fall in 2002 and this was followed by a cold but sunny winter with virtually no snow cover. These conditions were very conducive to winter injury by desiccation. Many of the autumn seeded grasses, especially those that were established in the later part of the fall, did not survive. Sod farms and other seedings that were exposed and open were damaged to the point that they required reestablishment in the spring of 2003. Established turf on putting greens was also damaged during the winter. Both of the creeping bentgrass and Poa annua greens were severely damaged by winter desiccation. A report with pictures is available at
http://www.iowaturfgrass.org/wiletter.htm
We would like to acknowledge Will Emley, superintendent of the ISU Horticulture Research Station; Rod St. John, manager of the turf research area; Luke Dant, undergraduate Research Associate; Federico Valverde, research associate; Dr. Young Joo, visiting scientist; Deying Li, Postdoctoral researcher; Mark Howieson, Robert Wieners, Yanwen Xiong, S.K. Lee, and Jason Kruse, graduate students; and all others employed at the field research area in the past year for their efforts in building the turf program.
Special thanks to Mark Hoffman and Sherry St. John for helping to prepare this publication.
Edited by Nick Christians, David Minner and Shui-Zhang Fei, Iowa State University, Department of Horticulture, Ames, IA 50011-1100.
| Dr. Nick Christians | Dr. David Minner | Dr. Shui-Zhang Fei |
| Phone: 515/294-0036 | Phone: 515/294-5726 | Phone: 515/294-5119 |
| Fax: 515/294-0730 | Fax: 515/294-0730 | Fax: 515/294-0730 |
| E-mail: nchris@iastate.edu | E-mail: dminner@iastate.edu | E-mail: sfei@iastate.edu |
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ISU Turfgrass:2003 Turfgrass Report | College of Agriculture |
Contents ©1995-2003, ISU Horticulture Department