| As cities in the Intermountain West continue to grow, water conservation becomes increasingly important. A substantial amount of municipal water is applied to turfgrass. Twenty-one mixtures and monostands were planted in four replications at Greenville Research Farm to be evaluated for color, quality, and cover/uniformity at two nitrogen levels (49 and 98 kg N/ha/yr) and reduced water input. Color was evaluated using a hand-held chlorophyll meter and digital analysis of photographs. Quality was evaluated using a visual rating scale of 1 to 9 by a trained evaluator. Cover and density were evaluated using digital analysis and the point-quadrat method. The point-quadrat method was used to track species composition in the mixtures. Differences between nitrogen treatments were mostly absent. Some native and adapted grasses/mixtures appear to be good substitutes for cool-season, high-input grasses for some turfgrass applications. |
