Influence of temperature regime on the germination of seeds of ornamental grasses

Yana Mitkova, Rosen Sokolov, Nadejda Zapryanova

Abstract: The results obtained show that of the ten varieties of turf grass tested: Agrostis stolonifera, Cynodon dactylon ‘Ornamental’, C. dactylon ‘Premium’, Festuca arundinacea ‘HounDog’, F. arundinacea ‘Nebula’, F. arundinacea ‘Starlett’, F. rubra, F. rubra var. commutata, Lolium perenne ‘Fabian’ and Poa pratensis ‘Yvette’, seven varieties show satisfactory germination under the temperature regime typical for the end of October and November. The closest germination to the control, that was held at 22 C0, was recorded in L. perenne ‘Fabian’, where germination decreased by only 4.06 %, a significant decrease in germination was found in F. rubra – by 10.95 %, P. pratensis “Yvette” – by 12.5 % and F. rubra var. Commutata – by 19.46 %. For varieties of F. arundinacea, the decline in germination is significantly higher: 21.76 % in ‘Starlett’, 30.53 % for ‘HounDog’ and 37.9 % for ‘Nebula’. The temperature regime also affected the rate of germination as the first germinated seeds were reported 2-4 days later in the seeds kept cool. Three varieties, namely A. stolonifera, C. dactylon ‘Ornamental’ and C. dactylon ‘Premium’, showed very low germination or no germination was observed in the temperature regime typical for the second half of autumn. The results obtained by us bring further clarity to the problem of late sowing of turf grass to produce sod or directly create a vegetative coating. The results obtained show that species with lower requirements for germination and sprouting temperatures such as L. perenne, F. rubra and P. pratensis, or sowing norms, may be selected to compensate for the lower germination.

Keywords: germination; temperature regime; turf grasses

Date published: 2023-04-26