Irrigation Requirements of Tall Fescue and Kentucky Bluegrass Cultivars Selected Under Acute Drought Stress

Abstract

There are a number of ways to reduce water use in urban landscapes, but planting turfgrass cultivars that can perform and persist under restricted water is an important component of these systems. A turfgrass screening protocol has recently been developed that allows selection of cultivars that can retain green cover under acute (no water) drought stress conditions. The objective of the present study was to determine if cultivars of tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) and bluegrass (Poa spp.) that were selected under acute drought screening could also conserve water under restricted irrigation habits or chronic drought stress. Six cultivars of bluegrass and tall fescue were exposed to a restricted irrigation program in which plots only received water when green turfgrass coverage dropped below 40%. For the entire three-month study period, the tall fescue cultivar RK4 required 43% less supplemental irrigation than Rebel Exeda while the bluegrass cultivar, Mallard, required 55% less supplemental irrigation as Solar Green to maintain 40% green coverage. These results suggest that cultivars selected with an acute drought screening protocol can also persist with less supplemental irrigation when exposed to a chronic, restricted irrigation program.