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Water Requirements Of ‘Meyer’ Zoysiagrass For Survival And Recovery After Prolonged Drought, Mu Hong, Dale Bremer, Steve Keeley

Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Reports

Water restrictions on irrigation are generally not science-based and may cause irreversible damage to turfgrass or inadvertently waste water. The objectives of our study were to evaluate effects of minimum water applications to ‘Meyer’ zoysiagrass (Zoysia japonicaSteud.) on 1) turfgrass performance during prolonged dry downs; and 2) survival and recovery thereafter. Zoysiagrass was watered with 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30% reference evapotranspiration (ET) replacement for two months in two consecutive summers under an automated rainout shelter (excluded all rainfall) near Manhattan, KS. Results indicated that irrigation at 20 to 30% ET slowed the decline in …