Studies On Physio-ecological Characteristics Of Turfgrass

With the social-economic development, the urbanization in China is becoming faster and faster. In the meantime, the living standard of city dwellers is increasing and their life style is also changing, which has led to the destrution of environment. In the context of life quality in modern society, the psychological and physical health benefits of 'being in touch' with nature are raising the importance of green spaces, parks, ornamental gardens and recreational areas, in which turf grasses play a fundamental role. In addition, turf grasses are required for a variety of sport activities. Finally, turf grasses contribute to safeguarding the environment in a variety of ways, e.g. in limiting erosion in orchards, vineyards, roadsides and ski runs.Because of its great contribution to the world, in recent decades there has been an increasing demand for amenity grasses for ornamental lawns, grasslands, green areas in parks and sports turf. Choosing the right turfgrass variety is the first step for the successful establishment of turf. When selecting turfgrass variety the first to consider is its adaptation to the environmental and climatic conditions.All turfgrass species are within the three primary subfamilies: Festucoideae, Panicoideae,and Eragrostoideae.The Festucoid turfgrasses are usually refered to as cool-season grasses. Optimum growth of these grasses occurs within the temperature ranging from 10-24℃, they are generally adapted to temperate and subarctic climates, and their environmental adaptation is limited primarily by the intensity and duration of seasonal heat stresses. While turfgrasses within Panicoid, and Eragrostoid subfamilies are called warm-season grasses. Optimum growth of these grasses occurs within the temperature ranging from 25-35℃, they are limited in their poleward adaptation by the intensity and duration of cold temperatures. The temperature is the main restrictive factor in distribution of turfgrass. The commitment to turf researchers including adaptation of turfgrass and its response to adverse temperature is urgent and challenged by the wide climatic differences occurring throughout the world.In China, only warm-season turfgrass such as bermudagrass and zoysiograss are used in most subtropics zones including Fujian. Fujian is located in 23°31'~28°18N, 115o50'~120°43', with hot in summer and cold in winter. Warm-season turfgrass performs well around the years except the whole winter of cold temperature, turf quality decreases sharply during mid-winter. Cold slows the growth of the turfgrass and de-colors the leaves. The status cannot meet with the higher demand for higher quality turfs. Thus how to adopt cultural practice to enhance the overwinter ability of warm-season turfgrass is one of the main challenges. Meanwhile, how to select some adaptive cool-season turfgrass species becomes an urgent task for turfgrass researchers in these zones. The right selection must be based on the right assessment of introduced cool-season turfgrass and its physio-ecological characteristics.Moreover, the best-adapted turfgrasses will fail to grow well if your site is poorly constructed or you do not follow good cultural practices. Few turf in China can show first-rank quality for most turfs under bad cultural practices, How to use proper cultural practice to enhance the quality of turf and its ability of...