Cool-season turf grass species adaptability in Mediterranean environments and quality traits of varieties

Abstract

Public and private sport turfgrass fields in areas with a Mediterranean climate are largely based on cool-season grasses. The widespread use of these turfgrasses in such environments has been ascribed to their availability on the seed market. The large number of cool-season cultivars of all turf species are generally released in northern Europe, Canada and the USA. Thus, the appropriate use of turf for implanting lawns requires field evaluation of the genotypes in sites with a Mediterranean climate to assess the behaviour of cultivars during the growing period. Our study aimed to evaluate the adaptability and quality of the most popular varieties of cool-season turfgrass species in a Mediterranean site in southern Italy. Forty varieties of perennial ryegrass ( Lolium perenne L.), 20 Kentucky bluegrass ( Poa pratensis L.) and tall fescue ( Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) and 10 cultivars for each species of creeping red ( Festuca rubra spp. rubra L.), chewing red ( Festuca rubra spp. commutata Gaud.) and slender creeping red fescue ( Festuca rubra spp. tricophylla Gaud. (Richter), were evaluated for 5 years in a replicated experimental block group design. On the varieties of each species turf quality, colour and cover were determined by using a visual score (1–9), assessed monthly from January to December, from 1999 to 2003. Kentucky bluegrass achieved lower scores in turf quality, colour and cover in winter, spring and autumn, and red fescue subspecies in spring and summer, than perennial ryegrass and tall fescue. Perennial ryegrass and tall fescue genotypes were better able than those of Kentucky bluegrass to cope with the climatic condition. The establishment of the varieties to the environment is determined by cluster analysis which identified for each trait of all turfgrass species, a group of varieties with superior performance and adaptability to cope in Mediterranean environmental conditions.