SportsTurf provides current, practical and technical content on issues relevant to sports turf managers, including facilities managers. Most readers are athletic field managers from the professional level through parks and recreation, universities.
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/765909
FIELD SCIENCE 14 SportsTurf | January 2017 www.sportsturfonline.com NTEP collects data on overall turfgrass quality, appearance characteristics like color and texture, disease and cold tolerance and many other traits. In recent years, however, NTEP has focused more on testing specific performance traits, such as traffic tolerance and saline irrigation performance. This article provides insight on NTEP testing and an update on improved cultivars and new experimental selections of bermudagrass. TESTING PROCEDURES NTEP trials are established at university locations and evaluated for 5 years. Species such as Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass and bermudagrass have been tested by NTEP for more than 25 years. Each new trial includes recently developed cultivars, experimental entries that may become commercialized, and well-known standard cultivars. With each trial, NTEP and an industry advisory committee develops testing protocols and identifies important characteristics to be evaluated. Trials are established at locations that are important use areas for that species, or where a disease, insect or other problem is prevalent, such that NTEP can adequately evaluate the test entries for that problem. Also, NTEP establishes tests where specific stresses can be evaluated, i.e., a location that can impose simulated ■ BY KEVIN MORRIS A t any one time, the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program (NTEP) is evaluating, in nationwide tests, more than 600 cultivars and experimental selection of more than a dozen species. Data collected and summarized from these trials can be found on our website, www.ntep.org. Our data is also published on a CD, in the same format as the NTEP website, which can be purchased from NTEP. BERMUDAGRASS CULTIVAR PERFORMANCE FOR SPORTS FIELD USE A Cady traffic simulator, one of several machines used to simulate traffic in NTEP trials. Field days are good venues for examining NTEP trials. One of the new fine textured bermudas in the 2013 NTEP test. 2013 NTEP bermuda test at Columbia MO in summer 2014; note damaged plots.