Fertilization of Imperial® Zoysia grass in different substrates compositions

Abstract

The lawn may receive attention in very different ways. Regarding sports lawns, these are carefully handled from installation to maintenance. On the other hand, ornamental lawns may be treated as a background, especially in civil constructions in which they are the last to be worked. In this case, the soil that remains for its installation is severely compacted and without fertility. In any case, the base for lawn installation is very important and also, fertilization should be taken into account, as if made in wrong way may culminates in excess grass growth which is undesirable, since it leads to increase of cuts, burdening the system. Thus, The objective of this work was to evaluate Imperial® Zoysia grass (Zoysiajaponica) development cultivated in different substrates compositions and fertilizations applications. Grass was planted in black plastic containers. The experimental design was factorial scheme 3×3 (substrates x types of fertilizers) with four replicates. Plots were submitted to three substrate combination: soil; soil + sand (1:1) and soil + sand + soil conditioner (1:1:1). Fertilization application was made using three commercial grass fertilizers incorporated into the substrates (30 g m-2) and one control without fertilizer. At 15 days after planting it was evaluated leaves fresh and dry mass, Falker Chlorophyll Index (FCI) and leaf analysis of N and S. The best result obtained was the cultivation of Imperial® Zoysia grass in substrate formed by soil, sand and soil conditioner without the necessity of fertilization.