53 1. Introduction Turfs and lawns are an important part of the landscape: they enhance its beauty (Geren et al., 2009) and provide important ecological benefits (Beard, 1973; Linse et al., 2001; Busey, 2003; Argenti and Ferrari, 2009) especially in areas modified by human intervention. Recently, the need for larger spaces for individual, fam- ily environments and common areas for socialization has increased the concept that green spaces represent a higher standard of living in urban areas (Hull, 1990; Roberts, 1990). This awareness has increased interest in turf, as a surface capable of fulfilling technical, aesthetic and recre- ational goals, ensuring high quality standards, practicabil- ity and durability of the turf (Volterrani and Magni, 2007). In turn, this has led to the development of precise man- agement practices (Gaetani et al., 2013) through which to minimize the negative impact on the environment. The main problem connected to turfgrass is the amount of in- put necessary to obtain a high quality surface (Easton and Petrovic, 2005). The predominant challenge is the utiliza- tion of water for irrigation (Youngner et al., 1981; Sevosti- anova and Leinauer, 2014). This aspect may reach critical levels especially in Mediterranean regions, characterized by low rainfall and hot summer temperatures. These cli- matic characteristics suggest the use of a low water rate and drought tolerant species such as warm-season turf- grasses (Marchione, 2008) that can provide high quality turf with suitable water consumption and low fertilizer and pesticide input (Turgeon, 2002; Schiavon et al., 2013). The main objection to the use of these grasses is their lack of green color during the winter period, when they enter in dormancy and loose chlorophyll (Bernardini, 2007). This occurs especially in central Italy, an area characterized by high summer and cold winter temperatures, where cold tolerance and rapidity of recovery from winter dormancy are also important qualities (Magni et al., 2014). The objective of this investigation was to assess per- formance and adaptation, especially in relation to cold temperature, of three species (seven cultivars) of C4 warm-season turfgrass species and a cool-season grass as a comparison, in an internal area of the Tuscany Region. 2. Materials and Methods The experimental site was located in a borderline area of Mediterranean climate in the centre of Tuscany, char- acterized by hot summer and low winter temperatures. The experimental trial started in the late spring of 2011 in Antria (Tuscany, central Italy) on natural soil, contain- Performance of warm-season turfgrasses in an area of Central Italy I. Seppoloni (1) *, N. Staglianò (2), S. Cecchi (2), G. Argenti (2) (1) C.N.R., IBIMET, via Giovanni Caproni 8, 50145 Firenze, Italy. (2) DiSPAA, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Piazzale delle Cascine, 18, 50144 Firenze, Italy. Key words: Bermudagrass, ground cover, growing season, turf quality, weeds. Abstract: Traditionally, in Italy, the C3 cool-season grasses have been the dominant species used for turfs, even though they do not appear to be the most suitable for the Mediterranean climate. However, recent limited water availability and the need to reduce energy inputs have placed drought tolerant warm-season turfgrasses under the spotlight. These spe- cies combine aesthetics with performance advantages in terms of water consumption, and with regard to the reduction of fertilizer and pesticides use. The present research was aimed to test the performance of warm-season turfgrass spe- cies (three cultivars of Cynodon dactylon, two cultivars of Paspalum vaginatum and two of Zoysia japonica) in a climatic transition zone in Tuscany, to evaluate their potential for use in this environment. The assessment of several parameters, which were estimated periodically, permitted performance evaluation of each species/cultivar, thereby enhancing the existing knowledge of these species and their potentiality in this environment. Results showed that the species with the best adaptation to the environment was Cynodon dactylon, which had higher performances compared to the other species. Paspalum vaginatum reported good quality in terms of color and density, but was damaged by low temperatures during winter. Zoysia japonica displayed a poor performance during the first year, but quality increased during the second year, yielding satisfactory results. Adv. Hort. Sci., 2015 29(1): 53-58 * Corresponding author: i.seppoloni@ibimet.cnr.it Received for publication 28 January 2015 Accepted for publication 1 May 2015 54 Adv. Hort. Sci., 2015 29(1): 53-58 ing 16.4% sand, 54.1% silt and 29.5% clay. The study was conducted over two growing seasons (2011 and 2012), starting after full establishment of the turf, up to the period of dormancy. Due to the presence of a meteorological sta- tion nearby, weather parameters were recorded in detail for the entire experimental period. The species under comparison included Cynodon dac- tylon (‘Black Jack’, ‘Casino Royale’ and ‘La Paloma’), Paspalum vaginatum (‘Marina’ and ‘Sea Spray’), and Zoy- sia japonica (‘Compadre’ and ‘Zenith’) and a cool-season grass as control (Lolium perenne ‘Kokomo’). The eight different accessions tested were replicated three times for a total of 24 plots (2x3 m with a surface area of 6 m2) ac- cording to a complete randomized block design. Sowing took place on the 10 June 2011. Seed rate was 25 g m-2, as an average of the suggested dose for warm-sea- son species (Panella et al., 2000). Seeding was performed manually and followed by rolling. Cultural practices for the growing season included four or five applications of standard fertilizers (yearly total amount 318-85-81 kg ha-1 NPK). Irrigation was performed to restore 100% of crop evapotranspiration (ETc) and it was applied with a sprin- kler system. Periodically, mowing was carried out with a mowing height of 30 mm performed by a rotary mower. A glyphosate treatment was performed during the dormancy period to reduce the presence of weeds (1 l ha-1). The following parameters were monitored during the trial and evaluated every two weeks (Pardini et al., 2002; Reyneri and Bruno, 2008): - Aesthetic quality of the turf: scores were visually as- signed on a scale ranging from 1 to 9 (1= poorest qual- ity, 9= highest quality) (Piano, 2005; Bigelow and Walker, 2008). Quality was also compared to addition- al parameters measured during the trial (color, ground cover and weeds) by multiple regression analysis to establish which aspects are the most related to quality; - Turf color: scores were visually assigned on a scale ranging from 1 to 9 (1= light green, 9= dark green) (Bullitta et al., 2005; Kir et al., 2010); - Ground cover: estimated visually as a percentage of soil cover; - Weed infestation: estimated visually as percentage of soil cover. All the data were grouped to obtain seasonal aggregation, where S1 was the first season of trials corresponding to sum- mer 2011, S2 was autumn 2011, S3 spring 2012, S4 summer 2012 and S5 was the end of the study in autumn 2012. The mean length of winter dormancy was estimated for each species, and plants were considered dormant when color scores means reached a value of 2. Statistical analysis was carried out by means of ANOVA and Tukey test to discriminate differences among averages species values. Moreover, through multiple regression analy- sis, it was possible to evaluate which of the tested parameters (color, ground cover and presence of weeds) was strongly related to the quality on a global scale. All analysis were per- formed utilizing IBM SPSS Statistics software (release 20). 3. Results Meteorological trends during experimental period Both years were characterized by very hot and dry summer periods. In particular, 2011 was exceptionally dry until late autumn and had a total rainfall of 500 mm com- pared to the average of 800 mm (2002-2010). The highest recorded temperature occurred in August (38°C). During winter the coldest month was February 2012 with severe temperatures below 0°C (-9°C minimum recorded) and, even in full dormancy, warm-season grasses can be dam- age by the cold. Damage is also proportional to the dura- tion of low temperatures. In 2012 there was a total rainfall of approximately 900 mm but it was concentrated at the end of the year. For this reason, during the summer, there was a severe water deficit replaced by irrigation. Spring was exceptionally warm, whereas the summer was one of the driest in recent decades. Turf quality Figure 1 shows the interaction between quality and sea- son (S1= summer 2011, S5= autumn 2012) for the eight species or cultivars. The species that showed the best per- formance over time was Cynodon dactylon, with good val- ues and a constant quality trend. All three cultivars belong- ing to this species performed well: in particular, ‘Black Jack’, obtained higher scores at the beginning of the trial. The highest value (7.1) was attained during summer 2012 (S4), even though the presence of thatch probably influ- enced the estimation. Paspalum vaginatum, after a good start and an improvement in autumn, proved to be the most sensitive species to low winter temperatures, having slow- er vegetative growth during the spring 2012 (S3) and the worst score, due to damage that occurred during winter. ‘Sea Spray’ showed better results in comparison to ‘Ma- rina’. Zoysia japonica performed badly during the year of establishment until the second growing season. Thereafter, Fig. 1 - Global quality of the species/cultivars under investigation dur- ing the trial period (assessment with 1-9 scale). Bars = standard error. L.p. = Lolium perenne, C.d. = Cynodon dactylon, P.v. = Paspalum vaginatum, Z.j. = Zoysia japonica. 55 Seppoloni et al., Performance of warm-season turfgrasses in an area of Central Italy it gradually improved and gave very good scores at the end of the second year. ‘Zenith’ performed better than ‘Com- padre’ on an overall scale. Lolium perenne was the most unsuitable species, showing a rapid initial establishment, after which the quality began to decrease from S2, attain- ing the worst score (2) in S4. Color The best performance regarding color was obtained with Lolium perenne: it was clearly superior with a darker and brighter color in each period (Fig. 2). Only P. vagi- natum, in S3, showed equivalent scores and it resulted to be the species with the best color among the tested warm- season grasses. Cynodon dactylon gave unsatisfactory re- sults, showing a decrease in quality in both years (in late summer and in the beginning of autumn), due to a rapid entrance into dormancy. Moreover, the light green color, typical of these seeded cultivars of Cynodon and the high production of thatch, influenced the scores. The trend of the two cultivars of Zoysia japonica appears to be very similar to that of Cynodon. Ground cover and weed infestation Table 1 shows the average ground cover values for each species during the different seasons of the trial. It is clear that the warm-season grasses increased the soil cover over time, while the percentage of L. perenne remained almost unchanged compared to the initial one (approximately 55- 60%). P. vaginatum, due to the winter cold, had a poor cover percentage in the spring of the second year but it was able to regenerate an efficient soil cover thanks to its strong stolons, and this trend is evident for both cultivars. C. dactylon demonstrated good and constant soil coverage and it was more satisfactory than other species, whereas Z. japonica displayed the typical behavior of this species, attaining optimal values at the end of the growing season of the second year (S5). As regards the presence of weeds (Table 1), infestation spread rapidly during the first year on L. perenne and Z. ja- ponica. The high presence of weeds on Lolium is also due to the fact that this species is characterized by a bunch type Table 1 - Average value (±SE) of ground cover and infestation of the tested cultivars over the 5 seasons Species/ cultivar Ground cover (%) S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 Lp 59.0±7.5 a 58.3±2.1 bcd 58.3±4.6 ab 51.7±4.8 d 61.7±2.5 c Cd1 73.7±5.2 ab 86.3±5.1 a 76.7±8.8 a 92.8±1.5 a 95.0±0.1 a Cd2 63.7±5.8 ab 81.3±4.4 a 78.3±2.2 a 92.2±1.1 a 94.4±0.6 a Cd3 57.0±5.6 ab 79.6±4.2 ab 73.3±3.6 a 92.2±1.1 a 93.9±1.1 a Pv1 67.0±3.2 ab 78.3±2.1 ab 40.0±6.3 b 58.1±9.3 cd 83.3±5.9 b Pv2 61.7±2.6 ab 76.7±6.9 ab 42.5±14.4 b 71.9±12.3 bc 88.9±5.3 ab Zj1 24.7±2.4 c 40.8±3.4 d 52.5±6.3 b 78.9±1.5 ab 87.2±2.0 ab Zj2 39.7±7.6 bc 56.3±6.3 cd 60.0±3.8 ab 83.3±2.5 ab 89.4±0.6 ab Species/ cultivar Infestation (%) S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 Lp 4.0±2.3 ab 16.7±4.0 bc 30.0±5.8 c 23.3±4.4 b 30.6±4.0 b Cd1 0.3±0.3 a 5.8±0.8 ab 8.3±2.2 a 6.7±1.0 a 16.1±2.9 ab Cd2 1.7±0.9 a 10.8±1.1 abc 8.3±2.2 a 9.4±2.8 a 18.9±5.3 ab Cd3 1.7±1.2 a 5.4±1.1 a 7.5±2.5 a 9.4±4.4 a 13.9±5.6 a Pv1 1.3±0.9 a 3.3±1.1 a 19.2±5.8 bc 14.7±6.8 b 20.0±3.3 ab Pv2 1.0±1.0 a 4.2±0.4 a 15.0±2.5 ab 12.5±2.7 ab 19.4±7.2 ab Zj1 4.3±1.3 ab 17.9±4.2 c 19.2±4.4 bc 11.7±3.5 ab 18.9±4.5 ab Zj2 8.7±1.3 b 19.6±1.8 c 23.3±2.2 bc 13.9±2.4 ab 9.4±0.6 a Lp= Lolium perenne Kokomo, Cd1= Cynodon dactylon Black Jack, Cd2= C. dactylon Casinò Royale, Cd3= C. dactylon La Paloma, Pv1= Paspalum vaginatum Marina, Pv2= P. vaginatum Sea Spray, Zj1= Zoysia japonica Compadre, Zj2= Z. japonica Zenith. Values in a column with the same letter are not significantly different (P<0.05) according to Tukey test. Fig. 2 - Average color of the species under investigation during the trial period (assessment with 1-9 scale). Bars = standard error. L.p. = Lolium perenne, C.d. = Cynodon dactylon, P.v. = Paspalum vaginatum, Z.j. = Zoysia japonica. 56 Adv. Hort. Sci., 2015 29(1): 53-58 habitus that makes it less competitive with opportunistic weed species in comparison to warm-season grasses. In addition, Lolium, after being stressed by the high summer temperatures, was also the only species not treated with glyphosate, taking into account its vegetative activity dur- ing the winter. For Zoysia, the infestation was easily attrib- utable to a slow establishment that left plenty of space for the development of invasive species at the beginning of the trial. Nevertheless, for all the species, despite the winter control with glyphosate, a manual control against weeds in the second year was necessary. After these operations, the presence of weeds was shown to be reduced, thanks to the ability of these highly-competitive species to suppress weed growth. Multiple regression analysis This model permits the calculation of turf quality value (considered the dependent variable) through the other ob- served parameters. The model applied (a stepwise mod- el) involves a mechanism of removal of the independent variables provided that they do not cause a decline in the power of the model. The elimination of the variables from the model is performed automatically by comparison with a threshold value of significance, which in this case was set to be equal to 0.05. From the analysis the following formula was obtained: Global quality= -1.447+0.067*cover-0, 050*weeds+0.443*color (R2 = 0.884) The parameters were ordered starting from the one most related to overall quality to the one with the lowest influence on the formula. No variable was removed from the model, demonstrating the importance of all investigat- ed parameters in describing the aesthetic value of a turf. The presence of weeds, as expected, produced a negative value, as it was inversely related to the aesthetic appear- ance of the turf. The very high determination coefficient indicated the good correlation between the independent variables and the dependant variable (turf quality). This type of analysis could be used in future investigations to predict the overall performance of a turf. Winter dormancy Table 2 shows the dates at the beginning and the end of the growing season, and the length of vegetation and dor- mancy periods for the species during the trial years. At the end of the first year of experimentation, dorman- cy took place in November for all the species, with differ- ences of about two weeks between the earliest (Zoysia) and latest (Paspalum) entrance into dormancy. The period of dormancy during winter 2011-2012 was particularly long for Paspalum, also because the growing season in the spring 2012 started at the end of April. Cyn- odon and Zoysia showed early vegetation activity at the end of March. The growing season for 2012 was longer for Z. japonica (236 days), due to its early vegetative growth and the entrance into dormancy in mid-November, which was exceeded only by Paspalum vaginatum. Nearly the same duration was found for C. dactylon (233 days), with greater precocity in vegetative growth, but with an earlier loss of green color than with other species. The shortest growing season, as expected, was found in P. vaginatum (208 days), despite its late entrance into dormancy. The period of dormancy during winter 2012-2013 showed a substantial analogy to the previous year for Zoy- sia (137 days in 2011/2012 and 142 in 2012/2013) and Paspalum (151 days compared to 159) but a considerable lengthening for Cynodon (124 days compare to 160 in the second year). This behavior could be connected to the fact that mean and maximum spring temperatures in 2013 were lower compared with the previous year. This trend defi- nitely affected the vegetative growth of the earliest species (Cynodon), highlighting the important role temperatures play in the vegetative activity of warm-season grasses. 4. Discussion and Conclusions In this study, Cynodon dactylon emerged as the species with the best overall behavior and the best potential adap- tation to the environment. It displayed good quality stan- dards, rapid establishment, good overall appearance, high ground cover and a competitive behavior against weed Table 2 - Dates of the beginning and the end of the growing season and length of vegetation and dormancy periods for the species during the years of trial Species Beginning End Vegetation (days) Dormancy (days) Cynodon dactylon 16/11/2011 124 Paspalum vaginatum 26/11/2011 151 Zoysia japonica 08/11/2011 137 Cynodon dactylon 20/03/2012 08/11/2012 233 Paspalum vaginatum 26/04/2012 20/11/2012 208 Zoysia japonica 25/03/2012 16/11/2012 236 Cynodon dactylon 17/04/2013 160 Paspalum vaginatum 28/04/2013 159 Zoysia japonica 07/04/2013 142 57 Seppoloni et al., Performance of warm-season turfgrasses in an area of Central Italy infestation. The constancy of studied parameters along ex- perimental trial are consistent with Volterrani et al. (1997). The worst performance concerned color of this species that probably resulted remarkably affected by presence of thatch, confirming the observations of Holm et al. (1991). Paspalum vaginatum presented an overall satisfactory appearance. However, the species was highly susceptible to cold winters, in agreement with De Luca et al. (2008), and Tesi (2012) reported cold damages on Paspalum with temperature around -7°C. Anyway this species performed in a very good manner concerning other variables, as it displayed a dark green-blue color, as well as a good color retention during autumn, as reported previously by Volt- errani et al. (1996) and Geren et al. (2009). Given that the stability of the turf was compromised, this behavior establishes a limit to the use of this species in areas that border the Mediterranean climate or with severe risks of low temperatures during winter. Zoysia japonica exhibited a typical growing pattern, confirming that observed by Patton and Reicher (2007), and it showed very poor performance in the first year, slow development and not competitive attitude against weeds. Similar results regarding this species were found by Geren et al. (2009) in a comparative study among warm-season grasses in Turkey. On the other hand, starting from the be- ginning of the second year, a gradual increase in quality, color and coverage was observed, and the species achieved remarkable results at the end of second growing season, in agreement with Sladek et al., (2011). Through multiple regression analysis it was possible to evaluate which of the tested parameters influenced turf quality the most. The results showed that the ground cover and the presence of weeds are strongly related with the overall aesthetic quality. The winter season revealed important differences in relation to the length of the period of dormancy among species. P. vaginatum had the longest period of dormancy (about 155 days as the average of the two years of experi- mentation). A delay in the vegetative activity in Paspalum, in comparison to other warm-season grasses, was also re- ported by other authors in different climatic areas (Duncan, 1996; Miele et al., 2000; Volterrani et al., 2001), as well as in both coastal and internal areas of Tuscany (Volterrani et al., 2000; Pardini et al., 2002) and in the province of Rome (Croce et al., 2001). C. dactylon showed a rapid recovery from winter dormancy in warm springs, while a longer length of dormancy was observed during the cold spring 2013. Z. japonica remained dormant for approximately 140 days during both years of the experiment. In general, in the interior zones of this study, the dura- tion of dormancy was found to be longer than those veri- fied by other experiments along the coastal areas of central Italy (Croce et al., 2004). 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