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Kentucky Bluegrass Performance Under Chronic Drought Stress
Author(s) -
Sandor Daniel,
Karcher Douglas,
Richardson Michael,
Hignight Debra,
Hignight Kenneth
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
crop, forage and turfgrass management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.29
H-Index - 10
ISSN - 2374-3832
DOI - 10.2134/cftm2018.10.0089
Subject(s) - irrigation , cultivar , poa pratensis , agronomy , perennial plant , lawn , evapotranspiration , biology , poaceae , botany , ecology
Core Ideas Kentucky bluegrass cultivars vary in their water requirements. Irrigation volumes replacing < 100% ET c does not negatively affect turfgrass quality. Using improved cultivars and deficit irrigation contributes toward water conservation. Kentucky bluegrass ( Poa pratensis L.; KBG) is a perennial cool‐season turfgrass commonly utilized in lawns. However, during the summer, KBG can decline in turfgrass quality under prolonged periods of drought stress. Previous research has reported that irrigating turfgrasses below levels of maximum crop evapotranspiration (ET c ) may not result in unacceptable turfgrass quality. Previous studies have also demonstrated that KBG varieties vary in their drought resistance responses under chronic drought stress. It is unknown the range in deficit irrigation levels to which drought‐resistant and drought‐sensitive cultivars could maintain acceptable green turf coverage under prolonged chronic drought. Maximizing deficit irrigation without negatively affecting turfgrass aesthetics would greatly support water conservation efforts. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the performance differences between a drought‐resistant KBG cultivar (‘Mallard’) and a drought‐sensitive KBG cultivar (‘Snap’) when both are supplied with variable amounts of deficit irrigation. Weekly irrigation replaced either 100, 80, 60, 50, or 40% ET c over a 90‐day period for two growing seasons. Acceptable monthly green turf coverage was observed for ‘Mallard’ irrigated at 60% ET c , however acceptable monthly green turf coverage for ‘Snap’ irrigated at 100% ET c was not consistently observed. Final green turf coverage following prolonged chronic drought, for ‘Snap’ irrigated at 100% ET c was predicted to be < 50%, and for ‘Mallard’ irrigated at 80% ET c final green turf coverage was estimated to be > 50%. These findings reinforce the importance of selecting drought‐resistant turfgrass cultivars and utilizing deficit irrigation in efforts to reduce water use.