Breeding of winterhardy turgrass varieties for central and northern Scandinavia
Summary
Turfgrasses grown on golf courses in central and northern Scandinavia are exposed to very tough winter conditions. Almost every year, physical and biotic winter damages result in repair and renovation on at least two thirds of the courses in the region. Injuries are most severe on greens, but fairways and tees are often damaged as well. One reason is that most turfgrass varieties used in central and northern Scandinavia are bred under totally different climate conditions. Currently, no commercial company has a turfgrass breeding program focusing on northern environments.
Grass breeding has long tradition in Norway. In 2002, all breeding activities were centralized into the company Graminor AS. The activities are funded by royalties and support from the government. For the past five years, turfgrass breeding has been at a minimum due to shortage of funds. Waiting to be tested, are many advanced breeding lines that may have great benefits for golf courses in central and northern parts of Scandinavia.
The main objective of this project is to test and improve this material, with the long-term goal of reducing cost for repair and renovation of golf courses.
The objective of the first subproject is to improve the leaf texture, uniformity and playing quality of winter hardy Agrostis stolononifera based on germplasm from ‘Nordlys’. ‘Nordlys’ has very good winter hardiness and a nice color, but a somewhat variable leaf texture. Selection will be done in 1000 spaced plants established at Bioforsk Øst Løken (61°N, 530 m a.s.l.).
The objective of the second subproject is to clarify which of the advanced breeding materials (candivars) of Agrostis capillaris and Festuca rubra commutata are worth further evaluation in green trials. From the earlier breeding program there are 19 candivars of Festuca rubra commutata and 24 candivars of Agrostis capillaries that have not been tested on putting greens. These candivars have been, or are now, under evaluation for general turf performance and winter hardiness, but we don’t know their tolerance to low mowing heights. Eight to twelve of the most promising candivars will be selected for testing. The trial will be established on the experimental green at Bioforsk Øst Apelsvoll (61°N, 250 m a.s.l.). Plant breeding is a continuous and long-term process, but by following up earlier selections and crossings, we expect the present project to result in commercially available turfgrass varieties in 6-8 years from now.
Petter Marum
Graminor AS
Bjørke Research Station
N-2322 Ridabu, Norway
Tel: + 4790871749
E-mail: petter.marum@graminor.no
Category: Turfgrass
Status: Finished
Project period: June 2007 - December 2010
Fundings (kSEK)
|
Funding |
2007 |
2008 |
2009 |
2010 |
2011 |
Total |
|
STERF |
50 |
60 |
50 |
--- |
--- |
160 kSEK |
|
Other sources |
50 |
60 |
50 |
--- |
--- |
160 kSEK |
|
Total |
100 |
120 |
100 |
--- |
--- |
320 kSEK |
Project summary and status as of 1 January 2011:
Both subprojects were finished by the end of 2010.
Subproject 1.
Improving leaf texture, uniformity and playing quality of winter hardy Agrostis stolonifera.
This work was triggered by the outstanding winter survival, but non-uniform leaf texture, of A. stolonifera ‘Nordlys’. The aim was to develop new varieties based on ‘Nordlys’ germplasm.
Selection started in 2007 by raising 1000 single plants from the anticipated most original seed lot. The plants showed huge variation, and we suspected that some of them were A. capillaris. This was confirmed by certification authorities rejecting seed crops due to contamination with A. capillaris. After examining lots of various generations, we realised that the breeder’s seed of ‘Nordlys’ had been contaminated. As all creeping bentgrass plants were fine-leaved, it was A. capillaris that caused the uneven texture on putting greens. This resulted in ‘Nordlys’ being withdrawn from the market.
To overcome the problem, a new nursery was established in 2009. Suspicious plants were removed a number of times until seed harvest in 2010. This resulted in 1.4 kg of pure seed, which will be used to establish a seed crop for the production of prebasic seed in 2011. Prospects are that proven to be ‘Nordlys’ will be back on the market by 2015.
Subproject 2.
Evaluation of breeding lines of Festuca rubra ssp. commutata and A. capillaris for putting greens in tough winter climates
This subproject was conducted as an extension of the STERF variety trial at Bioforsk Apelsvoll, 2007-2010.
As F. rubra ssp. commutata is not native to northern Scandinavia, candidates of this species were mostly synthetics after crosses of winter-surviving plants originating elsewhere. Their overall performance was almost as good as that of ‘Musica’, and better than ‘Greensleeves’, which are both recommended for northern Scandinavia. Many of the candidates had significantly better performance than the check varieties in spring. It is recommended that the three most highly ranked candidates, ‘LøRc0011’, ‘LøRc0008’ and ‘LøRc0010’, be submitted to DUS testing and multiplication started.
Candidates of Agrostis capillaris were mostly crosses between northern and southern germplasm. The Danish check variety ‘Jorvik’, which is recommended in Northern Scandinavia, had inferior winter survival, but better dormancy colour than the candidates. Compared with the Norwegian check variety ‘Leirin’, which is already on the market, ‘LøEk0015’ represented an improvement in tiller density, in-season colour and dormancy colour. It also tended to have finer leaves and was less prone to attack by in-season diseases. It should be subjected to DUS testing and seed multiplication started.
About STERF
STERF is a research foundation that supports existing and future R&D efforts and delivers ‘ready-to-use research results’ that benefit the Nordic golf sector. STERF was set up in 2006 by the golf federations in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland and the Nordic Greenkeepers’ Associations.
