New breeding technology, speeds innovations to market

摘要

Throughout the short history of turfgrass breeding, the major objectives have been fairly consistent. For cultivars propagated vegetatively, the breeding objectives have been turfgrass quality, color, density, establishment vigor, sod strength and pest resistance. For cultivars that are propagate, the breeding objectives also include seed yield, seed germination and seedling vigor in addition to the others. It is interesting to study the National Turfgrass Evaluation Trial (NTEP) data to see how well turfgrass plant breeders have done in improving the various characteristics of the important species. To evaluate the improvement, I looked at the NTEP final report data from the 1995 Kentucky bluegrass high-input trial. This report summarizes all thedata that was taken on this trial from 1996 through 2000 at 29 locations throughout the United States. I've been involved with NTEP trials since the first one in the early 1980s and have developed a number of personal Kentucky bluegrass standards that can be used to compare to the current cultivars and experimentals that were included in this most recent trial.