Preliminary Findings on the Correlation between Water-soluble Carbohydrate Content in Stolons and First Year Green-up of Seeded Bermudagrass Cultivars

Warm-season grasses are not widely accepted in Mediterranean countries because they lose color during the winter months. A study was conducted at the University of Padova (Padova, Italy) to determine whether fall and spring water-soluble carbohydrate (WSC) content in stolons of seeded bermudagrass cultivars (Cynodon dactylon) influenced spring green-up in the first year of establishment. Nine bermudagrass cultivars (La Paloma, Mohawk, NuMex Sahara, Princess 77, Riviera, SR 9554, Barbados, Contessa, and Yukon) were seeded in July 2005, and dry weight and WSC content in stolons were measured in Fall 2005 and again in Spring 2006. The percentage of green cover and days needed to achieve 80% green cover (D80) were regressed against November and March values of stolon dry weight and WSC content to determine if they were good predictors of D80. ‘Yukon’ showed earliest spring green-up by end of April, and ‘Princess 77’ and ‘Riviera’ were slowest, needing 43 to 46 days more than ‘Yukon’ to reach D80. There was a significant inverse relationship between November (r2 = 0.57) and March (r2 = 0.77) WSC content in stolons and D80 for all nine bermudagrass cultivars. These results suggest that bermudagrass cultivars with high WSC in stolons recover more rapidly from dormancy during establishment than those with low WSC content.