St. Augustinegrass accessions planted in northern, central and southern Italy: Growth and morphological traits during establishment

The use of warm season turfgrasses is a consolidated trend inthe climatic transition zone of Mediterranean countries, in particular St. Augustinegrass (Stenotaphrum secundatum (Walt.)Kuntze) begins to be widespread in warm coastal areas. However,little is known about the performance of the different cultivars ofthis species in southern Europe. In 2016-2017 a trial was carriedout in three locations in Italy, Padova, Pisa, and Palermo, locatedin the north, center and south of the country respectively. Four cultivars (Floratine, Captiva, Sapphire, Palmetto) and five ecotypes(CeRTES 201, CeRTES 202, CeRTES 203, CeRTES 204,CeRTES 205) were compared in terms of their growth characteristics and morphological traits during establishment. The resultshighlighted that stolon growth was significantly affected by thelocation, as well as green colour retention. Stolon growth rate,internode length and internode volume and turf quality were, however, significantly determined by the accession effect. The qualityof the ecotypes was also in some cases comparable to that of thecultivars. In Padova, winterkill occurred in most of the accessions while in Pisa and Palermo, all the entries survived. In conclusion,St. Augustinegrass is suitable for turf use in the central and southern coastal area of Italy.