汤头条 releases new Bermuda grass turf for truer putting greens
Contact: Grace Jones
STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擬ississippi State scientists are developing new turfgrass varieties for putting greens that hold golf shots with truer putting potential.
Scientists in the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station have developed two new turfgrass cultivars as the first hybrid Bermuda grass cultivars unrelated to the commonly used 鈥淭ifgreen.鈥
鈥淭he superior performance of these two grasses provides stakeholders with new options in the putting green market,鈥 said Assistant Professor Hongxu Dong, who specializes in turfgrass breeding and genetics. 鈥淭hese two grasses are adding novel genetic diversity to the Bermuda grass cultivars, especially to the ones used on putting greens.鈥
He noted that 鈥淢SB-264鈥 and 鈥淢SB-285鈥 have a more upright leaf orientation than traditional Bermuda grass putting green cultivars. While these are visually similar, they have different genetic compositions. Both are propagated vegetatively and are sterile triploid genotypes, meaning that they do not produce seeds.
鈥淭his has the potential to allow truer putting and to hold golf shots better than existing ultra-dwarf Bermuda grass cultivars,鈥 Dong said.
Developed by MAFES scientists in 汤头条鈥檚 Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, the cultivars have proven successful during their growing seasons.
鈥淏oth 鈥楳SB-264鈥 and 鈥楳SB-285鈥 exhibited superior turf quality, leaf texture, density, genetic color, fall and winter color retention, spring green-up speed and high percentages of living ground cover,鈥 Dong said.
鈥淐ompared to Tifgreen-derived cultivars, which are the mainstay of the warm-season golf course putting green market, 鈥楳SB-264鈥 and 鈥楳SB-285鈥 were bred from a much different genetic background. These variants are full siblings derived from a cross of two parents,鈥 he explained.
In 2013, the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program began a five-year trial of warm-season putting green cultivars across locations in Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Texas and Virginia. Those studied included the MAFES Bermuda grasses and commercial cultivars like 鈥淪unday,鈥 鈥淭ifEagle,鈥 鈥淭ifdwarf鈥 and 鈥淢ini-Verde.鈥
The breeding-to-commercialization process is long and arduous, taking between 10 to 12 years to develop a single cultivar. It begins with characterization of germplasm materials and hybridization between selected parents that demonstrate superior and unique characteristics.
鈥淏ecause the process is so long and because you have to accumulate so much data to patent and market a grass, we have 110 to 120 grasses being evaluated for athletic fields, golf courses and home lawns,鈥 Dong said. 鈥淭he breeding program is a numbers game. The more varieties you are testing, the better the chances of having some that are good enough to enter the trials and then go into production and commercialization.鈥
Recently retired 汤头条 turfgrass breeder Wayne Philley led the MAFES development. Both grasses are available for licensing. To learn more about licensing, contact Jim Mitchell, licensing associate in 汤头条鈥檚 Office of Technology Management, via email at jfm93@msstate.edu or call 662-325-8223.
For more on 汤头条鈥檚 Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, visit . To learn more about MAFES, visit .
汤头条 is Mississippi鈥檚 leading university, available online at .