Evaluation of Warm Season Turfgrass under Different Irrigation Regimes in Arid Region

Abstract

Turfgrasses play a very important role in enhancing quality of life in modern urban living. Water quantity is the most important challenge worldwide in establishing and maintaining quality turf. The present study was aimed to test the performance of three warm season turfgrasses under four water levels for plantation in arid zones. Pits (48) measuring 1m length x 1m width x 0.6 m depth were planted with four replications of Common Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon), Tifway Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon x transvaalensis) and Seashore Paspalum grass (Paspalum vaginatum) in complete randomized design (CRD). Irrigation was done daily with 15 l/plot during the first 4 weeks (establishment period) and four irrigation levels (5, 10, and 15, 20 l/lot) were maintained in the following 8 weeks (treatment period). Physical parameters (canopy temperatures, ambient temperature, leaf area, shoot production and relative water content) were measured once in two week as well as the visual quality (shoot color, shoot density and shoot uniformity) was assessed, however, chlorophyll analysis was done in the end of the study. It was found that temperature has significant effect on performance of turfgrasses. Canopy temperature was higher than ambient temperature in the three turfgrasses but it has different level in each variety. Five liter of water per day per square meter gave acceptable turf quality when ambient temperature ranged from 20 to 33°C. Seashore paspalum performed best followed by Tifway Bermuda grass and common Bermuda grass respectively.