Performances of Some Cool-Season Turfgrass Species in A Semi-Arid Climate Zone

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify the species and cultivars of turfgrass that could be utilized to create green space in semi-arid climate conditions. The study was conducted under the ecological conditions of Siirt province, located in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of T & uuml;rkiye, between 2015 and 2017. Cultivars of Lolium perenne L. (Troya, Caddieshack, and Esquire), Festuca arundinacea Schreb. (Jaguar, Arid-III, Starlet, and Tomcat-1), Festuca rubra L. subsp. rubra (Redskin, Corail, and Maxima-1), Festuca rubra L. subsp. commutata (J-5), Poa pratensis L. (Evora, Bluechip, Miracle, and Geronimo), and Agrostis tenuis Sibth. (Denso) species were used as turfgrass plant material in the study. The research established the field experiment using a randomized block design with long-term and three replications. In the experiment, the size of each plot was 2 m x 4 m= 8 m2. The study examined the basic turf field characteristics of the cultivars, such as emergence speed, ground cover speed, cold resistance, ground cover rate, leaf texture, leaf color, regeneration power, tiller number, visual turfgrass quality, infrequency degree, and weed ratio. In the study were detected statistically significant differences among the turfgrass varieties in terms of the parameters examined. According to the research results, L. perenne cultivars obtained the fastest emergence speed and achieved high ground cover speed values. Based on two-year average and seasonal variability, it was revealed that F. arundinacea cultivars yielded the best results regarding turf field characteristics, such as cold resistance, ground cover rate, leaf texture, leaf color, regeneration power, tiller number, visual turfgrass quality, weed ratio, and infrequency degree. According to these results, F. arundinacea cultivars (Arid-III, Starlet, and Tomcat-1) were the most successful turfgrass option under semiarid climate conditions due to having the highest scores in terms of many turfgrass characteristics.