| Centipedegrass (Eremochloa ophiuroides) is a local specific turfgrass. It has strong stolons, strong spreading ability, whose plant is low and short. It is fast for formed lawn speed, and has strong suitability. The adaptability of centipedegrass to varying environment conditions was good, including its strong resistance to weed, disease, insects, and barren soils adaptability. Centipedegrass is especially suitable for road maintenance, soil conservation and establishment for turf and lawn, which is a very ideal grass on low level maintenance and management of the lawn. In this paper,8 wild centipedegrass collected from the hilly areas of Ningzhen were used as materials to study systematically on the growth characteristics, winter survival, cold resistance, and characteristics of seed production. Turf qualities of them were evaluated at the same time. The results showed:1. There was a great difference in growth characteristics among 8 centipedegrass in the hilly areas of Ningzhen. Centipedegrass which were collected from the Pukou Laoshan in Nanjing (E10) were obviously most different from others. They have slower growth, fewer branches than all other materials. Centipedegrass which were collected from Nanjing Zhongshan(E11) had the fastest growth rate of single stolon, to 2.46 cm/d. Meanwhile, centipedegrass which had the best leaf texture, the highest quality and score on comprehensive evaluation was collected from Yizheng Xinji of Jiangsu province. In all growth characteristics, stolon growth rate had the greatest difference and branches of main stem had the least difference, which showed that there was an abundant morphological diversity.2. There were significant different seed production characteristics with different accessions of centipedegrass which were from hilly areas of Ningzhen. The order of variation in seed production:spike density (72.6%)> height of reproductive branch (7.0%)> the number of spikelet per spike (6.7%)> inflorescence length (4.7%). It indicated significant difference was existed in the performance of seed production among centipedegrass germplasm resources in the hilly areas of Ningzhen. In this four components, the spike density with the average value 2,258 spikes/m2 (433-5167 spikes/m2) was larger contributed to the seed yield than others. The spike density between E01, E10 and all other centipedegrass in Ningzhen hilly areas reached extremely significant level. The height of reproductive branch between E05 and E10 reached significant level (P<0.05). Extremely significant difference (P<0.01) was found in the number of spikelet per spike between E12 and E01, E05, E10, while significant difference (P<0.05) was found between E12 and E07, E08, E09. Extremely significant difference was existed in the inflorescence length between E01 and E08 (P<0.01), and Significant difference between E10 and E08 (P<0.05).3. There were great differences in winter survival and cold resistance among 8 centipedegrass in the hilly areas of Ningzhen, because the REC, MDA and soluble sugar content of them were quite different. E10 had the longest green period, strong cold resistance, and high winter survival rate, so winter survival was also good. The two traits of other centipedegrass materials in Ningzhen areas were not so different. Field observations were coincident with laboratory results.4. Used the comprehensive assessment system of quality from Liu Jianxiu and combined weighting method, turf quality was evaluated on centipedegrass lawn in the hilly areas of Ningzhen. The results showed that:the turf quality of different sources of centipedegrass varied. The comprehensive evaluation score was more than 7 points except that E10 was 6.7 points. E11 and E12 were suitable for landscape lawn with the best turf quality. E10 got the lowest evaluation scores, mainly because of its slow turf speed, resulting in a lower evaluation score of each indicator. |
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