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Title: ETHEPHON INDUCED CHANGES IN VEGETATIVE GROWTH OF TIFTON 85 BERMUDAGRASS.

Author
item Shatters, Robert - Bob
item Wheeler, Richard
item West, Sherlie

Submitted to: Crop Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/16/1997
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Many desirable warm-season forage and turf grasses must be vegetatively propagated (they produce little or no seed). We present a chemical treatment that can induce changes in Tifton 85 bermudagrass that improves characteristics important for efficient establishment of pasture areas from vegetative cuttings. Stand establishment is a susceptible time for weed invasion due to lack of a confluent desirable plant stand. A key to successful establishment is the rate at which roots develop and reach areas in the soil that contain extractable water. Sprigs possess minimal and often damaged roots. Plants have evolved excellent systems for altering their morphology and physiology to cope with drought or other stresses. However, grasses used for vegetative propagation cannot "perceive" a coming stress associated with cutting, transporting, and transplanting the sods/sprigs. Spray application of an ethylene producing chemical, ethephon, to Tifton 85 bermudagrass induced root formation on stem nodes, and reduced leaf surface area. Cuttings from treated plants established in soil more rapidly than controls and formed more roots under laboratory water stress conditions. We propose that this response may be common to many warm-season grasses and that this technique may be adaptable for commercial use to improve the quality of plant material available for pasture and turf establishment.

Technical Abstract: Establishment rate of warm-season grass sprigs or cuttings is of economic importance for both turfs and forages by determining how quickly an area may be utilized and by influencing the extent of weed invasion. Scientists with the Agricultural Research Service in Gainesville, Fl, monitored Tifton 85 bermudagrass [Cynodon dactylion (L.) Pers.] vegetative growth response to the application of an ethylene producing compound, ethephon, and how this treatment affected subsequent vegetative establishment of this grass. Responses of established Tifton 85 plants to ethephon treatment included reduced plant height, node swelling, bud swelling at the crown, terminal leaf necrosis, and chlorotic striping of young developing leaves. Quantitative responses included an increase in stem:leaf weight ratio and an increase in rate of shoot formation from crowns. Swelling of ethephon induced buds appeared to be due to a transient arrest in sprouting. These buds finally sprouted 9 d following ethephon treatment. Vegetative cuttings taken from treated plants formed roots more rapidly from nodes under limited water availability conditions, and had a more rapid rate of establishment than non-treated controls. These results indicate that it may be possible to adapt ethephon treatments for commercial use to increase the vegetative establishment rate and success of vegetatively propagated warm season grasses.