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.
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FieldScience ❯ TOP TALL FESCUES FOR SELECTED TRAITS, 2010 NTEP TRIAL DATA Traffic Tolerance “N. Brunswick, NJ” Bullseye Cannavaro Catalyst Cochise IV Essential Faith Falcon V Firecracker LS Hemi LS 1200 Rhambler SRP RK 4 RK 5 Shenandoah Elite Shenandoah III Saline Irrigation “Las Cruces, NM” AST 1001 AST 7003 AST 9001 AST 9002 BAR FA 6363 Falcon IV Gazelle II Justice Pedigree RNP Sidewinder Spyder LS STR 86PQR Tulsa Time Xtremegreen Brown Patch Tolerance Three location average 3rd Millennium SRP Bullseye Cannavaro Catalyst Cochise IV Hemi JT-36 Mustang 4 PSG-85QR RK 4 Sidewinder Talladega Titanium LS Turbo Wolfpack II “NOTE: Tall fescues are listed aphabetically and are either the top 15 entries for that year/location, or all of the entries“ in the top statistical grouping. Numbered entries are often still experimental and not yet commercially available. “N. Brunswick, NJ - Wear was applied July 20th. The rankings are based on turf quality collected 83 days after wear.” “Las Cruces, NM - the saline irrigation water used had a Sodium Adsorption Ratio (SAR) of 5.41.” “Brown patch was rated at W. Lafayette, IN, Adelphia, NJ and Virginia Beach, VA.” under potable irrigation, although it was not statistically significant. And one entry, ‘Sidewinder’ had the second lowest turf quality score under potable irrigation but finished in the top dozen entries under saline irrigation. As tall fescue use increases in the north- ern tier states, so do problems such as Poa. Our trial in Puyallup, WA has evaluated Poa annua invasion for the last several years, and has documented the increasing per- centage of Poa. In 2009, poa invasion, eval- uated in September, varied in entries from a low of 15% for ‘3rd Millenium SRP’ to 73.3% for ‘Ky-31’. In 2010, the Puyallup site rated Poa four times and the percentage overall increased from last year. ‘3rd Mille- nium SRP’ again performed well, with some of the lowest overall Poa invasion scores (46.7 – 60.0%). ‘Essential’, ‘Shenan- doah Elite’ and ‘LS 1200’ each had the low- est percentage of Poa on one rating date, while ‘Catalyst’, ‘SR 8650’ and ‘Hemi’ tied ‘Shenandoah Elite’ and ‘Essential’ for low percentage (43.3) on one date. The percent- age of Poa in northern tier trials is most likely a reflection of density differences, damage from cool weather diseases, and possibly winter injury. A reduction in growth during cooler temperatures may also play a part in Poa annua invasion. PERENNIAL RYEGRASS Perennial ryegrasses are a mainstay in many athletic field situations, because of positive attributes such as fast germination, better establishment under low and high temperatures and traffic tolerance. Our lat- est perennial ryegrass trial was planted in turf quality and percent canopy fullness rated multiple times. When considering the final turf quality rating, many of the top performing entries from last year finished in the top statistical group in 2010, 83 days after traffic was applied. ‘LS 1200’ finished with the highest quality score at the 83 day mark with sixteen other entries in the top statistical group. Entries such as ‘Traverse’, ‘Bullseye’, ‘Faith’, ‘RK 5’, and ‘Cannavaro’ were again in the top turf quality statistical group 83 days after traffic, however, only ‘LS 1200’ and ‘Falcon V’ completely recov- ered their canopy fullness by 83 days after traffic to pre-traffic fullness levels. Data from 2010, unlike the past 2 years, exhibited larger performance differences in tall fescue entries for salinity tolerance at the Las Cruces, NM location. In particular, where potable vs. saline irrigation (SAR=5.41) were compared, there was 1) more cultivar separation when using saline irrigation, and 2) cultivar performance var- ied under the two irrigation regimes. For instance, of the top twelve entries for turf quality under saline irrigation, only three (‘LS 1010’, ‘Gazelle II’ and ‘Xtremegreen’) were in the top twelve when using potable water. The top entry in the saline irrigation trial, ‘Justice’, ranked significantly lower Continued on page 34 14 SportsTurf | August 2011 www.sportsturfonline.com