Sprouting variation among Australian bermudagrasses and implications for hydrosprigging
2016
Tran, T. V. | Fukai, S. | Van Herwaarden, A. F. | Lambrides, C. J.
Soil erosion and stabilisation are huge problems facing Australian land users, including those working in agriculture, mining, road construction and urban sports and community landscapes. There is a large opportunity for the Australian turfgrass industry to play a role in providing solutions to Australia's land stabilisation issues. If 10% of these denuded landscapes can be vegetated by turfgrasses, the turfgrass industry as a whole can benefit greatly, particularly in the current economic climate, where the hangover from the global financial crisis has persisted. Collectively, the areas to be stabilised are enormous and to date the methods used to revegetate these land masses are limited. Hydrosprigging (HS) is an inexpensive, automated method of delivering grass sprigs (stolons) with a hydraulic pump to large areas of bare soil. In this study, we present our latest research on developing state-of-the-art HS methods. Significant differences for stolon sprouting of up to about 30% were identified among 12 bermudagrass genotypes harvested from the field. We hypothesise that the sprouting potential and vigour of shoots may be a function of the levels of non-structural carbohydrate (NSC) present in the stolons at the time of planting. We also suggest that photothermal quotient, the ratio of solar radiation to temperature during the growing period, may provide the theoretical basis for predicting when levels of NSC may be optimum through the growing season.
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