Abstract
Plant diseases are a major problem on creeping bentgrass greens and can significantly decrease putting quality. Blended populations comprised of two or more cultivars within the same species have been utilized to decrease disease development in numerous plant-pathogen systems. Blending of creeping bentgrass cultivars to increase disease resistance merits investigation. Five creeping bentgrass cultivars were established on a United States Golf Association specified experimental green in College Station, Texas. One, two and three-way blends were planted using equal proportions of each component. Every possible blend combination was represented. All treatments were replicated three timed in a randomized complete block design. All disease activity was naturally occurring with the exception of one inoculation event. Comparisons of disease activity, quality, shoot density, and root length density in single cultivars compared to blended treatments revealed few differences. Differences were demonstrated among single line cultivar treatments. Generally, single line cultivar performance was an indicator of performance in blends. Cultivars that performed well when planted alone increased the performance of treatments were they were a component in the blend compared to all treatments were they were not included. The opposite was true for cultivars that performed poorly. Cultivars that performed only moderately did not impact performance of treatments where they were included as a blend component. This general trend however was not always the case. Consequently, cultivars used in blended populations should be selected judiciously.
Abernathy, Scott David (1999). Disease resistance and performance of blended populations of creepi. Master's thesis, Texas A&M University. Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /ETD -TAMU -1999 -THESIS -A14.