The 2008 Joint Meeting of the Society for Range Management and the America Forage and Grassland Council. |
Thursday, January 31, 2008 - 11:20 AM
Performance of Seeded, Hybrid, and Common Bermudagrasses in the Northern Transition Zone
Chris D. Teutsch and W. Mac Tilson. Southern Piedmont AREC, Virginia Tech, 2375 Darvills Road, Blackstone, VA 23824
Bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon L.) could provide summer grazing for ruminant livestock in Virginia and other mid-Atlantic states. Common bermudagrass ecotypes exist on many farms in the Piedmont and Coastal Plain regions of Virginia. Little is known about the performance of these ecotypes under improved management. The objective of this study was to determine the performance of hybrid, seeded, and common bermudagrasses under improved management. In June 2003, nine common ecotypes, six seeded, and 10 hybrid bermudagrasses were established at the Southern Piedmont AREC near Blackstone, VA. The experimental design was a randomized complete block with four replications. Yield was determined by clipping a 4 ft strip through the center of each plot. In 2004, common ecotypes yield more than the hybrid and seeded types (8,800 lb A-1 versus 7,500 and 6,800 lb A-1). In 2005, the common ecotypes and hybrids yielded more than the seeded types (11,900 and 11,700 lb A-1 versus 10,900 lb A-1). In the third production year (2006), the seeded and sprigged types yielded more than the common ecotypes (14,100 and 13,800 lb A-1 versus 12,900 lb A-1). Although the yield difference between bermudagrass types was approximately 1000 lb A-1 in all years, differences between varieties were much greater. For the varieties in this study, yield ranged from 5,600 to 10,300, 9,600 to 14,400, and 10,200 to 17,300 lb A-1 for the 2004, 2005, and 2006 growing seasons, respectively. This may indicate that selecting a well adapted variety of bermudagrass may be more important than whether the bermudagrass is a hybrid of seeded type. In addition, these data indicate that ecotypes of common bermudagrass found in the northern transition zone represent a significant source of germplasm that could be used in the development of improved cultivars for this region of the United States.