scholarly journals Lateral Spread of Three Warm-season Turfgrass Species as Affected by Prior Summer Water Stress at Two Root Zone Depths

HortScience ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 48 (6) ◽  
pp. 790-795 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kurt Steinke ◽  
David R. Chalmers ◽  
Richard H. White ◽  
Charles H. Fontanier ◽  
James C. Thomas ◽  
...  

As a result of increasing demand for potable water, local and national initiatives to conserve municipal water supplies have been implemented. Many of these initiatives focus on reducing irrigation of turfgrass in urban landscapes and may totally ban irrigation during periods of severe water shortage. Proper selection of adapted turfgrass species and cultivars is vital to long-term water conservation initiatives. Turfgrasses that can survive and recover from extended hot and dry periods under limited to no irrigation would best meet water conservation objectives. The present study was conducted to evaluate the recuperative potential of transplanted plugs of 24 commonly grown cultivars of three warm-season turfgrass species after incremental increases in water stress imposed by withholding all water for up to 60 days. A 2-year field study was conducted consisting of eight blocks containing 25 plots each. Each block was planted with one plot each of eight cultivars of bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon sp.), seven cultivars of st. augustinegrass (Stenotaphrum secundatum sp.), and nine cultivars of zoysiagrass (five of Zoysia japonica sp. and four of Zoysia matrella sp.). Four blocks were planted on native soil with no restriction to rooting, whereas the other four had an effective root zone of only 10 cm of soil. Cup cutter plugs were collected at predetermined intervals, transported to College Station, TX, replanted, and grown under well-watered conditions. Measurements of the lateral spread of the plugs were taken every 10 to 14 days for the first 60 to 70 days after planting (DAP). The lateral spread of plugs collected after 0 days of summer dry-down (DSD) was greatest for bermudagrass, intermediate for st. augustinegrass, and lowest for zoysiagrass. In most cases there were no consistent differences between cultivars within a species. All species grown on the 10-cm deep root zone were unable to survive the 60-day period without water and died within the first 40 days. For each species, lateral spread was increasingly delayed or reduced with increasing DSD. Although all three species grown on native soil were able to survive and recover from a 60-day period without water, the bermudagrass cultivars had the most rapid recovery rates measured as lateral spread of transplanted plugs.

HortScience ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 1041B-1041
Author(s):  
Jason J. Griffin ◽  
William R. Reid ◽  
Dale Bremer

Successful establishment and growth of newly planted trees in the landscape is dependent on many factors. Weed pressure and water conservation are typically achieved with either organic mulches or chemical herbicides applied over the root ball of the newly planted tree. In the landscape, eliminating turfgrass from the root zone of trees may be more complicated than resource competition. Studies have shown that tall fescue (Festucaarundinaceae Schreb.) has allelopathic properties on pecan trees [Caryaillinoiensis (Wangenh.) K. Koch]. Well-manicured tall fescue turf in the landscape may have negative effects on the establishment and growth of landscape trees as well. A study was designed to examine the effects of popular turfgrasses on the growth of newly planted pecan and redbud (Cerciscanadensis L.). Results demonstrate that the presence of turfgrass over the root zone of trees negatively impacts tree growth. Through two growing seasons, every growth parameter measured on redbuds (caliper, height, shoot growth, shoot dry weight, root dry weight, leaf area, and leaf weight) was significantly reduced by the presence of turf. However, the warm season bermudagrass [Cynodondactylon (L.) Pers.] was less inhibitied than the cool season grasses. The affects of turfgrass on pecan growth was less significant; however, caliper, leaf area, and root dry weight were significantly reduced when grown with turf.


2014 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-38
Author(s):  
Brian J. Pearson ◽  
Heather Bass ◽  
Sloane M. Scheiber ◽  
Richard C. Beeson

Native plants are often promoted for water conservation in urban landscapes. However, direct comparisons between native and introduced species utilizing physiological measures of plant water stress are unavailable to support or refute such recommendations. Ligustrum japonicum and Myrica cerifera, representing evergreen introduced and native species, respectively, were selected based on similar landscape function, non-stressed photosynthetic rates, and water use efficiencies. Both species were transplanted into a fine sand soil to evaluate establishment rates and growth characteristics under two irrigation regimes, irrigated either daily or every 3 d at 1.3 cm (0.5 in) of irrigation per event for the first 8 months after transplanting (MAT). Water potentials were recorded on two consecutive days each month, with cumulative stress intervals calculated. Water potential was significantly influenced by day of water stress level. On days without irrigation, water stress was generally greater and affected growth. Of the two species, Myrica irrigated daily had the greatest shoot growth, yet plants receiving irrigation every 3 d had the lowest root mass and biomass 8 MAT. In contrast, Ligustrum exhibited no differences in most parameters measured between irrigation regimes except for growth index. These contrasting differences stem from different strategies for coping with water stress.


2013 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 442-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Schiavon ◽  
Brent D. Barnes ◽  
David A. Shaw ◽  
J. Michael Henry ◽  
James H. Baird

Replacing cool-season turf with more drought and heat tolerant warm-season turfgrass species is a viable water conservation strategy in climates where water resources and precipitation are limited. Field studies were conducted in Riverside and Irvine, CA, to investigate three methods (scalping, eradication with a nonselective herbicide, planting into existing turf) of converting an existing tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) sward to warm-season turf. Cultivars established vegetatively by plugging were ‘De Anza’ hybrid zoysiagrass [Zoysia matrella × (Z. japonica × Z. tenuifolia)], ‘Palmetto’ st. augustinegrass (Stenotaphrum secundatum), ‘Tifsport’ hybrid bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon × C. transvaalensis), ‘Sea Spray’ seashore paspalum (Paspalum vaginatum), and ‘UC Verde’ buffalograss (Buchloe dactyloides). Cultivars established from seeds were ‘Princess-77’ bermudagrass (C. dactylon) and ‘Sea Spray’ seashore paspalum. Neither scalping nor planting into existing tall fescue were effective conversion strategies, as none of the warm-season turfgrasses reached 50% groundcover within 1 year of planting. All of the species except for st. augustinegrass reached a higher percentage of groundcover at the end of the study when glyphosate herbicide was applied to tall fescue before propagation compared with the other conversion strategies. Bermudagrass and seashore paspalum established from seeds and hybrid bermudagrass from plugs provided the best overall establishment with 97%, 93%, and 85% groundcover, respectively, when glyphosate was used before establishment. Quality of seeded cultivars matched or exceeded that of cultivars established vegetatively by plugging. These results suggest that eradication of tall fescue turf followed by establishment of warm-season turf from seeds is the best and easiest turf conversion strategy.


HortScience ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 999D-999
Author(s):  
Sloane M. Scheiber ◽  
Richard C. Beeson ◽  
Heather Bass

Native plants are often promoted as an approach for water conservation in urban landscapes. However, information regarding plant water needs is based primarily upon anecdotal observations of plant performance. Direct comparisons between native and introduced species using physiological measures of plant water stress are unavailable to support or refute such recommendations. Ligustrum japonicum and Myrica cerifera, representing an introduced and native species, respectively, were transplanted into a fine sand soil to evaluate establishment rates and growth characteristics under two irrigation regimes. Each species was irrigated either daily or every 3 days and received 1.3 cm of irrigation per event for 8 months after transplant. Predawn, midday, and dusk water potentials were recorded on three consecutive days monthly, with cumulative stress intervals calculated. Height, growth indices, shoot dry mass, root dry mass and leaf area were also recorded. Water potential was significantly influenced by day of water stress level. On days without irrigation, water stress was generally greater and affected growth. Myrica irrigated daily had the greatest growth, yet plants receiving irrigation every 3 days had the least growth and greater leaf drop. In contrast, for Ligustrum there were no differences between irrigation regimes in growth responses except for growth index.


Author(s):  
Rashid Iqbal ◽  
Muhammad Habib-ur-Rahman ◽  
Muhammad Aown Sammar Raza ◽  
Muhammad Waqas ◽  
Rao Muhammad Ikram ◽  
...  

AbstractWater scarcity constrains global cotton production. However, partial root-zone drying (PRD) and mulching can be used as good techniques to save water and enhance crop production, especially in arid regions. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of mulching for water conservation in an arid environment under PRD and to further assess the osmotic adjustment and enzymatic activities for sustainable cotton production. The study was carried out for 2 years in field conditions using mulches (NM = no mulch, BPM = black plastic mulch at 32 kg ha-1, WSM = wheat straw mulch at 3 tons ha-1, CSM = cotton sticks mulch at 10 tons ha-1) and two irrigation levels (FI = full irrigation and PRD (50% less water than FI). High seed cotton yield (SCY) achieved in FI+WSM (4457 and 4248 kg ha-1 in 2017 and 2018, respectively) and even in PRD+WSM followed by BPM>CSM>NM under FI and PRD for both years. The higher SCY and traits observed in FI+WSM and PRD+WSM compared with the others were attributed to the improved water use efficiency and gaseous exchange traits, increased hormone production (ABA), osmolyte accumulation, and enhanced antioxidants to scavenge the excess reactive oxygen. Furthermore, better cotton quality traits were also observed under WSM either with FI or PRD irrigation regimes. Mulches applications found effective to control the weeds in the order as BPM>WSM>CSM. In general, PRD can be used as an effective stratagem to save moisture along with WSM, which ultimately can improve cotton yield in the water-scarce regions under arid climatic regions. It may prove as a good adaptation strategy under current and future water shortage scenarios of climate change.


HortScience ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 414D-414
Author(s):  
Edward W. Bush ◽  
James N. McCrimmon ◽  
Allen D. Owings

Four warm-season grass species [common carpetgrass (Axonopus affinis Chase), common bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon [L.] Pers.), St. Augustinegrass (Stenophrum secondatum Walt. Kuntze.), and zoysiagrass (Zoysia japonica Steud.)] were established in containers filled with an Olivia silt loam soil for 12 weeks. Grasses were maintained weekly at 5 cm prior to the start of the experiment. Water stress treatments consisted of a control (field capacity), waterlogged, and flooded treatments. Waterlogging and flood treatments were imposed for a period of 90 days. The effects of water stress was dependent on grass species. Bermudagrass vegetative growth and turf quality were significantly reduced when flooded. Carpetgrass, St. Augustingrass, and zoysiagrass quality and vegetative growth were also reduced by flooding. St. Augustinegrass and zoysiagrass root dry weight was significantly decreased. Zoysiagrass plants did not survive 90 days of flooding. Leaf tissue analysis for common carpetgrass, common bermudagrass, St. Augustinegrass, and zoysiagrass indicated that plants subjected to waterlogging and flooding had significantly elevated Zn concentrations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 904 (1) ◽  
pp. 012010
Author(s):  
Z A Abdulhamed ◽  
S A Abas ◽  
A H Noaman ◽  
N M Abood

Abstract Stress is any physiological, physical or chemical change that leads to disturbance and imbalance in the plant. Water stress is one of the most important environmental stresses affecting plant growth and production. It is also known as the lack of available water in the soil to be absorbed by the plant at a stage of its growth, or the inability of the plant. On the absorption of water even if it is naturally present in the root environment due to the force affecting the holding of water molecules, as it was described as the state in which the amount of water absorbed by the roots is less than the water lost through transpiration from the vegetative system, meaning that it is the state in which the effort The water content of the plant and the fullness of its cells is low to a degree that affects the conduct of vital and physiological processes. During the occurrence of water stress, as the term “drought” is not accurate in the sense used, but it is sometimes expressed as the phenomenon of water shortage as a result of climatic elements of multiple weather conditions, As for the agricultural concept of drought (Agricultural Drought), it is according to the growth and formation of the crop, and it is assumed that it begins when the ready water is drained from the root zone, plant goes through three stages: First stage increases the water loss and the transpiration process until it reaches a point where the amount of water lost by transpiration exceeds the amount of water absorbed by the roots. On the water balance between these two processes in adaptation, and when the water stress intensifies, the plant moves to the third stage, after which the plants lose a large part of the water through transpiration, the stomata are closed and the photosynthesis process stops. Therefore water stress (drought) alone is one of the most influential environmental stresses in reducing maize productivity, Therefore, the role of the plant breeder came through the implementation of breeding programs for hybridization and selection until it obtains a plant adapted to drought through the occurrence of morphological changes that make plants phenotypically adaptable to conditions of lack of water and includes an increase in root size and reduction of leaf area.


2020 ◽  
Vol 98 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Prem Woli ◽  
Francis M Rouquette ◽  
Charles R Long ◽  
Luis O Tedeschi ◽  
Guillermo Scaglia

Abstract In forage-animal nutrition modeling, diet energy is estimated mainly from the forage total digestible nutrients (TDN). As digestibility trials are expensive, TDN is usually estimated using summative equations. Early summative equations assumed a fixed coefficient to compute digestible fiber using the lignin-to-neutral detergent fiber (NDF) ratio. Subsequently, a structural coefficient (φ) was added to the summative equations to reflect an association between lignin and cell wall components. Additional modifications to the summative equations assumed a constant φ value, and they have been used as a standard method by many commercial laboratories and scientists. For feeds with nutritive values that do not change much over time, a constant φ value may suffice. However, for forages with nutritive values that keep changing during the grazing season owing to changes in weather and plant maturity, a constant φ value may add a systematic bias to prediction because it is associated with the variable lignin-to-NDF ratio. In this study, we developed a model to estimate φ as a function of the day of the year by using the daily TDN values of bermudagrass [Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers.], a popular warm-season perennial grass in the southern United States. The variable φ model was evaluated by using it in the TDN equation and comparing the estimated values with the observed ones obtained from several locations. Values of the various measures of fit used—the Willmott index (WI), the modeling efficiency (ME), R2, root mean square error (RMSE), and percent error (PE)—showed that using the variable φ vis-à-vis the constant φ improved the TDN equation significantly. The WI, ME, R2, RMSE, and PE values of 0.94, 0.80, 0.80, 2.5, and 4.7, respectively, indicated that the TDN equation with the variable φ model was able to mimic the observed values of TDN satisfactorily. Unlike the constant φ, the variable φ predicted more closely the forage nutritive value throughout the grazing season. The variable φ model may be useful to forage-beef modeling in accurately reflecting the impacts of plant maturity and weather on daily forage nutritive value and animal performance.


2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 2795-2809 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hafsa Ahmed Munia ◽  
Joseph H. A. Guillaume ◽  
Naho Mirumachi ◽  
Yoshihide Wada ◽  
Matti Kummu

Abstract. Countries sharing river basins are often dependent upon water originating outside their boundaries; meaning that without that upstream water, water scarcity may occur with flow-on implications for water use and management. We develop a formalisation of this concept drawing on ideas about the transition between regimes from resilience literature, using water stress and water shortage as indicators of water scarcity. In our analytical framework, dependency occurs if water from upstream is needed to avoid scarcity. This can be diagnosed by comparing different types of water availability on which a sub-basin relies, in particular local runoff and upstream inflows. At the same time, possible upstream water withdrawals reduce available water downstream, influencing the latter water availability. By developing a framework of scarcity and dependency, we contribute to the understanding of transitions between system regimes. We apply our analytical framework to global transboundary river basins at the scale of sub-basin areas (SBAs). Our results show that 1175 million people live under water stress (42 % of the total transboundary population). Surprisingly, the majority (1150 million) of these currently suffer from stress only due to their own excessive water use and possible water from upstream does not have impact on the stress status – i.e. they are not yet dependent on upstream water to avoid stress – but could still impact on the intensity of the stress. At the same time, 386 million people (14 %) live in SBAs that can avoid stress owing to available water from upstream and have thus upstream dependency. In the case of water shortage, 306 million people (11 %) live in SBAs dependent on upstream water to avoid possible shortage. The identification of transitions between system regimes sheds light on how SBAs may be affected in the future, potentially contributing to further refined analysis of inter- and intrabasin hydro-political power relations and strategic planning of management practices in transboundary basins.


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