Turfgrass Management Techniques And Seed Yield Sustainability Of Cleistogenes Songorica

Along with global temperature changes, rainfall precipitation also becomes less and unevenly distributed temporally and spatially, the development of turfgrass cultivars with improved tolerance to limited or low-quality water remains a critical research objective are increasingly important in the turfgrass industry. Native grasses have evolved under the environmental extremes of a continental climate, so these species may be good candidates for low maintenance or xeriscape turf. However, with seed yields often low and variable under native conditions, it is necessary to introduced domesticated and develop seed production techniques in these species. A series of experiments were carried out with Cleistogenes songorica on turf characters under drought condition, effect of urea fertilizer on turfgrass growth performance, planting density affects seed yield sustainability, different spikelets position affects seed yield and seed quality. The main findings obtained are as followings:(1) The results showed that, compared with tall fescue, C. songorica is good turfgrass with strong drought tolerance, slow growth rate, good performance and lower management input. The optimal lawn seeding rate is 15000 plants/m2. Apply 5 g/m2 of urea can prolong 20 days of green period.(2) The optimal plant density for C. songorica seed production was 30 plants/m2, with a mean seed yield of 445 kg/ha over the 3 yr. It can be used in seed production for at least 6 consecutive harvests. Precipition in July and August was more important than annual precipitation to maximize seed yield of C. songorica(3) The number of fertile tillers was the most important component of seed yield. From 2010 to 2012, the average simple correlation coefficients was 0.859; the average path coefficients was 0.866.(4) The seed yield of upper spikelet was largest, seed quality of central spikelet was best. Both seed yield and seed quality of apical spikelet were lowest. The length and diameter of spikelet were significantly positive correlated with seed number and weight, respectively, the simple correlation coefficients were 0.977 and 0.431, respectively.