Turf Establishment And Overseeding Techniques For A New Centipedegrass Line 'Shanghai'

Centipede grass is perennial turfgrass in gramineae family with some distingishing characteristics including dwarf plants, good tolerance to soil fertility, shade and wet conditions, longer green period, easy turf establishment, excellent disease and pest resistances, aggressive growth and regeneration capacity, density shoot coverage, thick grass layer and minor maintenance requirement. In this study, a new centipede grass line'Shanghai'was used to investigate: 1) The effects of various sprig density and fertilizer on centipede turf establishment; 2) turf performance of centipedegrass overseeded with perennial ryegrass during spring transform period. The main results are as follows:1. Fertilizer treatments increased the ratios of centipede bud germination and growth, the ratios of centipede bud germination and growth in 30g/m2and 60g/m2 fertilizers treatments reached by 90.25% and 92.75%, respectively, which were 10 and 12.5 percent increases compared with the non-fertilizer control.2. Increased sprig density benefited to the speed of centipede turf establishment. Lower sprig density (with 25 cm and 35 cm sprig space) need more time for turf establishment, which were 91 d and 92 d under no fertilizer control. However, higher sprig density (with 5 cm and 15 cm sprig space) only need 71d and 72d for turf establishment, respectively. Fertilizer treatments can increase turf establishment speed, and turf establishment time in 30g/m2 and 60g/m2 fertilizer treatments with high sprig density (5cm sprig space) were decreased to 60d and 58d, respectively.3. Although the turf quality showed a decline during the spring transform period when centipedegrass overseeded with perennial ryegrass, the lowest quality still maintained above the acceptable level (6.0). During the spring, centipedegrass coverage increased rapidly, while perennial ryegrass coverage declined. When the vertical growth rate and biomass of perennial ryegrass decreased, centipedegrass gradually increased its growth and biomass to compensate the space loss of ryegrass. These gradually change in centipedegrass/ryegrass ratio did not affect the overall turf quality. The results suggested that centipedegrass could overseeded with perennial ryegrass for the year-round green turf purpose.