Study On Biological And Turf Characteristics Of Wild Zoysia Species

In view of the deficiency of evergreen species in northern and southern transition beltsuch as Hunan. A wild Zoysia strain which has a good performance after being introduced toHunan has been chosen on the basis of antecedent selection of variety and breed of lawn. Forpurposes of exploring the management technology for lengthening its green time, enhancingits turf quality, and providing the model for the evergreen strains' cultivation which can adaptto the ecological environment of northern and southern transition belt, some biological andturf characteristics of the wild Zoysia strain had been studied by plot trail in contrast withTifgreen (T-328) which was introduced from abroad. The results of main research show asfollows:1. Turf grass growing time of the wild Zoysia in this research was about 73 days afterbeing planted on July 23, 2005, and its green period was 292 days under rough management.On phonological phase, the wild Zoysia has two times of head sprouting and blooming everyyear. About morphological features, its average leaf length, leaf width, internode length,stolon diameter and started nature turfgrass height are 5.10cm, 0.20cm, 2.15cm, 0.09cm and11.12cm, respectively. Its coverage is 100%. The density, growth rate, net weight ofabove-ground biomass and the net weight of below-ground biomass are 367branch/100cm²,0.12cm/d, 8.22g/100cm² and 0.77g/100cm², respectively. The length of the longest root is29.35cm. According to the preliminary appraisal, this kind of wild Zoysia strain can bepossibly Zoysia matrella cv. or Zoysia sinica hance, and it also can be the natural hybrid ofZoysia matrella(L.)Merr., and Zoysia pacifia, but it still waiting for such evidences asmolecular biology and so on to prove its concrete variety.2. On cold-resistance, the content of proline and soluble suger of wild Zoysia strain are4.03μg.g^-1 and 0.59% higher than Tifgreen; however, by the cold-treatment of 4℃and 0℃,the electrolytic leakage are 3.95% and 11.97% lower than Tifgreen. About disease-resistanceand insect-resistance, two lawns haven't got any diseases all the year-round except June andJuly of 2006, they got a light damage from noctuid. In addition, only Tifgreen have been damaged by fly louse in September 2005. On trampling resistance, under light traffic andheavy traffic, the integrated score of wild Zoysia species are 98.5 and 84.0, respectively, andthe Tifgreen are 88.4 and 74.5.3. According to the observation in the field and the indoor analysis, the wild Zoysiastrain has a stronger cold-resistance, anti-disease, anti-carrying insect and traffic tolerancethan Tifgreen. As lawn, no matter for view, conservation of water and soil, rest and recreation,and playground, the integrated score of wild Zoysia species are 90, 90, 90 and 85; as forTifgreen, its integrated score are 84, 83, 82 and 81, respectively. Therefore, as any kind of 4lawns, wild Zoysia strain is more excellent than Tifgreen.