Investigations on the Agronomic and Sports Field Characteristics of Some Turf Alternatives Cut at Different Heights in a Mediterranean Environment

摘要

In an attempt to investigate the turf alternatives most adaptable to sports fields under Mediterranean ecology,three different turf alternatives (1- Tall Fescue 100%, 2- Tall Fescue 60% + Perennial Rye Grass 40% and 3-Traditional Cool Season Sports Turf Mixture: Perennial Rye Grass 50%, Creeping Red Fescue 20%,Chewing's Red Fescue 10%, Sheep Fescue 10%, Kentucky Blue Grass 10%) under three vertical cuttingheight regimes (12 - 22 - 32 mm) were tested in the turf experimental fields of Ege University BayindirVocational School, Izmir/Turkey in 2012-2014. Turf color and cover were determined to evaluate theadaptability of selected turf alternatives in the experiment. Ball rebound, ball roll, and evenness were alsomeasured to identify the playing quality parameters of these turf stands in the same experimental plots. Theoverall results obtained from the experiment revealed that statistically significant differences occurred amongthe turf alternatives and different cutting heights. However, pure tall fescue turf and the 60% tall fescue +40% perennial rye grass turf mixture performed better than the traditional mixture. Although significantdifferences were recorded among the mowing heights, pure tall fescue turf displayed better performancecompared to traditional cool season sports turf mixture.