Turf Breeding Warms Up - Putting and Bowling Green Couches - Australia

Putting and Bowling Green Couches - Australia

Although some use longer internode grasses for Bowling greens and sometimes even golf greens, those varieties have other uses so they do not fit into this category. This category is for short internode couches that are almost always used on greens. The internodes of these varieties are usually around 10mm. The quality of these grasses is now getting so good that it could be said to use Bent in a warmer climate is environmentally poor practice.

Tiff 328 - A dark green grass with a fine blade. It was the first of the Tif series of greens couches and has now been surpassed in quality by Tifdwarf and TifEagle, particularly when it comes to speed on the green. A few Queensland growers still grow this.

TifDwarf – It was evaluated and released in 1966 in the United States. It was one of the early varieties that set the standard for golf and bowling greens as far as short internode couches are concerned. It is a fine bladed grass with a dark green colour. This is grown by only a few turf growers in Australia, mainly in Queensland.

TifEagle - Released by internationally recognized USDA/ARS plant geneticist Dr. Wayne Hanna, TifEagle is the third generation of Couch varieties developed exclusively for golf greens at the Coastal Plains Experiment Station in Tifton GA. TifEagle is claimed to be an improvement over TifDwarf and extensive research seems to prove it has a better quality as a greens couch, and is noticeably quicker than previously bred varieties. It is sold by Twin View Turf in Queensland. It has a shorter internode than TifDwarf.

I will not do this for many varieties but here is an example of the amount of work that goes into breeding a variety. More work does not always mean a better grass.

TifEagle is a fine-textured 2n=3x=27 chromosome mutant derived by irradiating Tifway II stolons. Dormant stolons, obtained from Glenn W. Burton, were treated with 7000 rads of Cobalt 60 radiation on January 12, 1988. Radiation treated stolons were planted in steam-sterilized soil in the greenhouse at Tifton, GA immediately after treatment. Forty-eight putative mutants were selected and individually propagated (45 survived). On July 11, 1988, each surviving mutant was planted in the center of separate 1.8 x 2.6 m plots and allowed to spread to full coverage.

Beginning in April, 1989 and continuing through the 1990 growing season, the plots were mowed at .250 inch 3 times per week. In July 1990, a dense fine textured off-type was identified in putative mutant #2. Stolons from this plant were vegetatively increased, tested as TW72 and later named TifEagle. TifEagle has been evaluated in four replicated experiments at Tifton, GA since 1991, in nine replicated experiments by scientists in GA, FL, TX, SC, AL and OK, beginning in 1994 and on 24 golf courses in GA, FL, AL, CA, NC, TX, TN, MS, SC and AZ beginning in 1995.

Novotek - An ecotype adapted to tropical conditions, and bred by Tropical Lawns in Northern Queensland.

MS-Supreme, P18 and Champion Dwarf have PBR status, but I could find no one growing these varieties in Australia. I must say when visiting the USA I liked the look of Champion Dwarf. I think the Queensland Department of Primary industries still has some of these available. It seems very popular in the USA, so I am surprised no one is doing it here.

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Author: Todd Layt