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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Maricopa, Arizona » U.S. Arid Land Agricultural Research Center » Water Management and Conservation Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #423931
Research Project: Developing Sustainable Turfgrass Systems in the U.S. Southwest

Location: Water Management and Conservation Research

Title: Response of turf bermudagrass hybrids to induced drought stress under controlled environment

Author
item MENGISTU, MITIKU - Oak Ridge Institute For Science And Education (ORISE)
item Serba, Desalegn
item Conley, Matthew
item Hejl, Reagan
item WU, YANQI - Oklahoma State University
item Williams, Clinton

Submitted to: Grasses
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/16/2025
Publication Date: 6/5/2025
Citation: Mengistu, M.A., Serba, D.D., Conley, M.M., Hejl, R.W., Wu, Y., Williams, C.F. 2025. Response of turf bermudagrass hybrids to induced drought stress under controlled environment. Grasses. 4(2). Article 23. https://doi.org/10.3390/grasses4020023.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/grasses4020023

Interpretive Summary: Bermudagrass is a warm season turfgrass commonly grown in drought prone areas. Harnessing natural genetic variation available in germplasm is a principal strategy to enhance its resilience to drought stress. This dry down study was conducted on a total of 48 turf type bermudagrass hybrids to assess the comparative performance for drought tolerance, water use efficiency, and recovery following prolonged dry spells. Weekly turf color, quality, and active spectral reflectance data were collected and analyzed. The hybrids showed significant differences for color, quality, and spectral vegetation indices. The study identified hybrids that are highly drought tolerant with full recovery after re-watering, moderately tolerant, and susceptible to extended drought stress without recovery. These results demonstrated a broad genetic diversity among the hybrids that can be harnessed in the development of bermudagrass cultivars resilient to drought stress and improved water use efficiency in the arid and semi-arid environments.

Technical Abstract: Bermudagrass is a warm season turfgrass commonly grown in drought prone areas. Harnessing natural genetic variation available in germplasm is a principal strategy to enhance its resilience to drought stress. This study was carried out to assess the comparative performance of bermudagrass hybrids in terms of drought tolerance, water use efficiency, and recovery following prolonged dry spells. A total of 48 hybrids including two commercial cultivars, Tifway and TifTuf, were established under optimum growth conditions in the greenhouse and subjected to drought stress by withholding irrigation for four weeks. The dry down experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with four replications. Turf color, quality, and active spectral reflectance data were collected weekly and used to assess the health and vigor of the hybrids during progression of the drought stress for four weeks and through recovery after re-watering. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences among the hybrids for color, quality, and spectral vegetation indices. The hybrids grouped as highly drought tolerant with full recovery after re-watering, moderately tolerant, and susceptible to extended drought stress without recovery. These results show a prevalence of genetic diversity for drought tolerance that prove instrumental in the development of bermudagrass cultivars resilient to drought stress and improved water use efficiency.