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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Raleigh, North Carolina » Plant Science Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #271958
Title: Freeze Tolerance of Nine Zoysiagrass Cultivars Using Natural Cold Acclimation and Freeze Chambers

Author
item HINTON, JASON - North Carolina State University
item Livingston, David
item PEACOCK, CHARLES - North Carolina State University
item Tuong, Tan
item MILLER, GRADY - North Carolina State University

Submitted to: HortScience
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/3/2011
Publication Date: 1/4/2012
Citation: Hinton, J., Livingston, D.P., Peacock, C., Tuong, T.D., Miller, G. Freeze 2012. Tolerance of Nine Zoysiagrass Cultivars Using Natural Cold Acclimation and Freeze Chambers. HortScience. 47:112-115.

Interpretive Summary: Zoysiagrass winter hardiness is an important aspect of its successful growth in lawns and golf courses throughout the biogeographical transition zone. The objective of this research was to determine the freezing tolerance of nine zoysiagrass cultivars grown in Raleigh, NC. Cores of each cultivar were taken from the field in February for three successive years for winter trials and in April for spring trials to measure the ability of each cultivar to survive a late spring freeze. After freezing and thawing, cores were placed in a 41°/20° C greenhouse to promote greenup., Cores were rated for greenup after four weeks on a 1-9 scale. Cultivars JaMur, Palisades, Empire, Ultimate, Zeon, Cavalier, and Zorro were no different from each other in the winter trials with an LT50 ranging from -9.1 to -10.6° C. Pristine (LT50 of -5.7° C) and Diamond (LT50 of -6.0° C) had less tolerance to freezing than the other cultivars suggesting a lower ability to cold acclimate in the field. Correlation of shoot weights of cores to visual greenup ratings for each cultivar were 0.70 to 0.99 indicating a good relationship between the greenup ratings and shoot weights.

Technical Abstract: Winter hardiness of zoysiagrass (Zoysia spp.) cultivars is an important attribute throughout the biogeographical transition zone, thus the inability to withstand freezing temperatures may limit the use of these cultivars. The objective of this research was to determine the freeze tolerance (LT50) of nine zoysiagrass cultivars grown in Raleigh, NC. Four Zoysia japonica cultivars (‘JaMur’, ‘Palisades’, ‘Empire’, and ‘Ultimate’) and five Zoysia matrella cultivars (‘Pristine’, ‘Zeon’, ‘Cavalier’, ‘Diamond’, and ‘Zorro’) were chosen to undergo freeze-testing. Cores were taken from the field in February of 2008, 2009, and 2010 for the winter trials and in April 2008, 2009, and 2010 for the spring trials (after greenup had occurred). The cores were subjected to freeze treatments of -6, -8, -10, -12, and -14° C in programmable freezers. After thawing, cores were placed in a 41°/20° C greenhouse to promote greenup., Cores were rated for greenup after four weeks on a 1-9 scale. Nonlinear regression analysis was used to calculate an LT50 value for each cultivar. JaMur, Palisades, Empire, Ultimate, Zeon, Cavalier, and Zorro were no different in the winter trials with an LT50 ranging from -9.1 to -10.6° C. Pristine (LT50 of -5.7° C) and Diamond (LT50 of -6.0° C) had less tolerance to freezing than the other cultivars suggesting lower ability to cold acclimate in the field than the other cultivars. Shoot weights of cores were correlated to visual greenup ratings for each cultivar with an R² range from 0.70 to 0.99 indicating a good relationship between the greenup ratings and shoot weights.