(140) Salt Tolerance Assessment of Kentucky Bluegrass Cultivars Selected for Drought Tolerance

Six selections of Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.) cultivars, selected based on their drought tolerance under field and growth chamber conditions in New Brunswick, N.J., were evaluated for salt tolerance based on yield and growth rates at eight soil water salinities [2 (control), 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 18, and 22 dSm-1] from Apr. to Sept. 2005 in Riverside, Calif. Cultivars Baron and Brilliant were selected as drought sensitive and `Cabernet', `Eagleton', and `Midnight' were selected as drought tolerant. A Texas × Kentucky bluegrass (Poa arachnifera × Poa pratensis) hybrid selection (identified as A01-856) developed for improved drought and heat tolerance was also included. Vegetative clones were established in a randomized complete-block design with three replications, each containing 11 clones. Cumulative biomass and clone diameters were measured over time to evaluate relative yields and growth rates for the six cultivar selections. Based upon maximum absolute biomass production as a function of increasing EC, the order of production was `Baron' > `Brilliant' > `Eagleton' > `Cabernet' ≥ `Midnight' > A01-856. Yield relative to the non-saline control (2 dSm-1) for each cultivar was similar, except that the differences between cultivars were less pronounced, and `Baron' slightly outperformed `Brilliant'. Clone area expansion rates were analyzed with a phasic growth model and beta, the intrinsic growth rate of the exponential phase parameter, significantly varied with salinity. Ranking of cultivars, based on expansion rates, was similar to that based on cumulative biomass. Salinity tolerance in this experiment did not appear to be related to the observed ranking for drought tolerance.

Assessment of Kentucky Bluegrass Salt Tolerance with Remote Sensing

Six cultivars or selections of Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.) exposed to salinity stress were evaluated with ground-based remote sensing plant reflectance (R) measurements at wavelengths ranging from 350 nm to 2500 nm. Cultivars Baron, Brilliant, Cabernet, Eagleton, Midnight, and the selection A01-856, a Texas × Kentucky bluegrass hybrid (Poa arachnifera × P. pratensis), were grown outdoors from vegetative clones in a gravelly-sand medium from Apr. to Sept. 2005, in Riverside, Calif., at soil water salinities ranging from 2 to 22 dSm-1. Two Normalized Difference Vegetation Indicies (NDVI) were developed based on: 1) canopy reflectance in the visible domain at 695 and 670 nm and 2) an average of eight wavelengths in mid-infrared [Ravg = (R:1500, R:1680, R:1740, R:1940, R:2050, R:2170, R:2290, and R:2470 nm/8)] and the reference wavelength (670 nm). Both NDVIs were significantly sensitive to salinity-induced changes in grass canopies and were able to discriminate significantly between the salt-tolerant cultivars (`Baron', `Brilliant', and `Eagleton') and salt-sensitive cultivars (`Cabernet', `Midnight', and A01-856). Another remotely sensed index, based on the derivative of the absorbance (1/R) in the red-edge region between 600 and 800 nm, also generated a similar ranking to the NDVIs and biomass for the six cultivars. These findings indicate that remote sensing of canopy reflectance may represent an additional tool to evaluate and explain the biophysical or physiological differences among Kentucky bluegrass cultivars related to salt tolerance.