Drought Resistance and Post-Drought Recovery of Three Warm Season Turf Grasses

Abstract

Knowledge about the drought responses of different turf grasses would be of great importance in developing water-use-efficient landscapes. This study was designed to evaluate the drought resistant characteristics of three warm season turf grass species; Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylort -BMD), Bahia grass (Paspalum notatum -BHI) and Centipede grass (Eremochloa opiuroides -CPD) by imposing 20 days of simulated drought followed by re-watering. Their relative drought resistance was compared by calculating ratios with those of control plants as well as the indices of drought survival and post drought recovery of each grass species. Plant dry weight, shoot and root dry weight, canopy height and number of leaves were measured as growth parameters while relative growth rate and relative cell membrane permeability were calculated to study the leaf cell stability. The study was arranged as a completely randomized design with four replicates allocating seven plants per replicate. Drought avoidance, drought tolerance and drought escape mechanisms were helped drought resistance grass species to survive under lengthy dry spells and all three warm season grass species studied showed one or more of them. BMD is a superior drought avoidance grass having a higher relative growth rate throughout, irrespective of time and treatment. Even though CPD has comparatively lower drought resistance, it had better resilience ability.