Abstract
St. Augustinegrass, Stenotaphrum secundatum (Walt.) Kuntze, a widely used turfgrass in the southern coastal states, has two major limiting pests, southern chinch bug, Blissus insularis Barbar, and St. Augustine decline strain of Panicum mosaic virus. Gamma‐rayderived mutants of ‘Floratam,’ a very coarse cultivar which is resistant to both pests, were evaluated for stability of resistance and turf characteristics. All mutants retained resistance to PMV‐SAD and all except #14 caused higher antibiosis to the confined bugs than the susceptible ‘Florida Common’ St. Augustinegrass (22%). Mutant #6 produced 76% mortality of the confined southern chinch bugs at 7 days which was significantly greater than the mortality produced by four of the other mutants. However, none of the mutants was significantly more resistant than Floratam (65% mortality). Egg deposition was significantly less on Floratam and all mutants (from 4 to 13 eggs/stolon) than on the Florida Common (average of 23 eggs/stolon). One of the mutants had a faster rate of establishment and all mutants had shorter internodes than Floratam, all were immune to PMV‐SAD, and only one had lost its southern chinch bug resistance.
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