Testing and Selecting Drought Resistant Common Bermudagrass Genotypes

Abstract

Bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers.) is a perennial warm-season turfgrass that is widely used in the central and southern part of the United States. The drought performance of 67 experimental selections made from the normally seed-propagated cultivars 'Yukon', 'Riviera' and ' OKS 2004-2' bermudagrass, with two cultivars `Celebration' and `Premier' serving as standards. Field research plots were established at the Oklahoma State University Turfgrass Research Center in Stillwater, OK in 2012 in a randomized complete block design with four replications. Plots were evaluated in the field during and following a one month drought treatment period in 2012 and 2013. Plots received no water from irrigation or natural rainfall during the treatment period. Right after the drought period, plots were irrigated to allow grass recovery and the recovery rate was measured. Parameters measured included turf quality, leaf firing, normalized difference vegetation index, soil volumetric water content, and digital image analysis. Based on data collected in 2012 and 2013, two experimental genotypes, `1x9' and `20x7', showed significant improvement in field drought performance compared to all other entries and performed better than the highly drought resistant standard Celebration.