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TURF WARS: WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THE GENETICS AND MANAGEMENT OF TURFGRASSES
Author
Huff, David R.
Publisher
Society for Range Management
Publication Year
2014
Body

As a species, Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.) is a genetically diverse perennial containing several subspecies, is broadly adaptable with high levels of phenotypic plasticity, and is extensively utilized as pastures, meadows, and turf in temperate regions of the northern hemisphere.  Recently, however, the undesirability of Kentucky bluegrass in native grassland ecosystems is becoming apparent.  This talk will focus on gleaning the available knowledge base of turfgrass end-users and breeders to assist those aimed at controlling Kentucky bluegrass invasiveness.   For example, the occurrence of Kentucky bluegrass in turf is highly encouraged by regular close mowing and high traffic and thus grazing by non-native species in native areas should be curtailed.  The main seed production areas typically use burning to remove straw, control diseases, and increase seed yield in the subsequent season and thus burning may not be a useful means of control.  A trait valued among end-users is Kentucky bluegrass' ability to mix well with other plant species creating diverse managed ecosystems of turfs, pastures, and meadows in northern latitudes world-wide.  Thus, any means of control, including herbicides, should be balanced with appropriate measures of floristic and species indices in order to ascertain if the desired goals have been achienved.   Lastly, due to its facultative asexual apomictic breeding system, the agronomic and ecological performance of Kentucky bluegrass tends to behave more like a “species complex” rather than as a single species in the traditional sense and therefore, control efforts should focus on the Pasture and Mid-western ecotypes rather than the numerous turf types.

Language
English
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Conference Name
SRM Orlando, FL
Collection
SRM Annual Meeting Abstracts