How Do Warm-Season Grasses React to Deficit Irrigation in California?”, (Xiang, et. al.) , UC Riverside, March 2020
In a recent turfgrass study released by researchers at the University of California at Riverside, Tahoma 31 Bermudagrass maintained better average turf quality under deficit irrigation than any of the commercially-available bermudagrasses in the study, including TIFTUF. The 5-month study titled “How Do Warm-Season Grasses React to Deficit Irrigation in Californai?”, (Xiang, et. al.), examined bermudagrass turf quality under deficit irrigation at 30%, 45%,and 60% ET replacement. Mean turf quality ratings for the 5-month study under all three ET replacement rates showed Tahoma 31 with better turf quality overall.
Study Results
Results show the mean turf quality under three ET replacement measurements, (30%, 45%, & 60% ET replacement) deficit irrigation, from June 2019-Oct 2019, as follows:
Tahoma 31 = 6.16
TIFTUF = 5.9
Tifway = 5.88
Monoco = 5.26
Premier Pro = 4.76
In the research summary, the co-authors noted specifically that Tahoma 31 had “green coverage” from June to August in the top group at all ET replacement levels. Starting from September, green cover of all entries declined and eventually dropped below 20%., the authors noted.