| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
|
|
|
|||||||
|
|||||||||
a Dep. of Plant Biology and Pathology, New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, Cook College, Rutgers Univ., 59 Dudley Rd., Foran Hall, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
b Lebanon Seaboard, P.O. Box 10, Huntsville, UT 84317
* Corresponding author (bonos{at}aesop.rutgers.edu)
‘Champagne’ Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.) (Reg. no. CV-65, PI 614851) is a turf-type cultivar released in March 2000 by Lebanon Seaboard, Lebanon, PA. It was developed from germplasm obtained from the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station. The experimental designations of Champagne were A91-621 and LTP-621.
Champagne Kentucky bluegrass originated as a single, facultatively apomictic plant identified as 89-2194-4. Its maternal parent, A80-336, is an exceptionally vigorous, moderately apomictic F1 hybrid selected from the progeny of a cross between Warren's A25 (Dale et al., 1975) and ‘Touchdown’ Kentucky bluegrass (Rewinski et al., 1978). Open pollinated seed of A80-336 was planted in a turf trial at the Rutgers Plant Biology and Pathology Research and Extension farm at Adelphia, NJ, in the late summer of 1988. After intense interplant competition eliminated most of the weaker plants, promising seedlings were selected from this plot and transferred to a spaced-plant nursery for evaluation and seed production. Plant 89-2194-4 was selected from this nursery, and its seed was used to establish turf plot A91-621 at the Adelphia farm during the late summer of 1991. A91-621 is approximately 85% apomictic. Additional turf trials and spaced-plant nurseries were established at Adelphia in 1992, 1993, 1994, and 1995. Four and one half kg of seed of A91-621 was sent to Lebanon Seaboard in August 1995 for experimental seed increase and seed yield evaluation. Additional seed was submitted for testing to the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program (NTEP) for inclusion in the 1995 National Kentucky bluegrass test. An experimental Foundation seed field was established in the spring of 1998. Certified seed was produced in 1999.
Champagne has a medium plant height, medium-fine leaf width, medium-dark bright green color, medium-high shoot density, and above average turf quality under medium-high maintenance in the NTEP tests established in 1995 (Morris, 2000). Champagne has a large seed size, good seedling vigor, early spring green up, and good winter color. Champagne exhibited good resistance to stripe smut [caused by Ustilago striiformis (Westend.) Niessl] and dollar spot (caused by Sclerotinia homoeocarpa F.T. Bennet) and moderate resistance to melting out [caused by Drechslera poae (Baudys) Shoemaker] and summer patch (caused by Magnaporthae poae Landschoot & Jackson) (Morris, 2000). Champagne has exhibited good tolerance to drought stress but moderate susceptibility to billbugs (Sphenophorus spp.). Freshly harvested seed of Champagne, like most other cool-season turfgrasses, can exhibit moderate after-ripening dormancy when seeded during warm temperatures of late summer; however, establishment is normal during cooler fall temperatures or with seed stored until the after-ripening dormancy is overcome (Funk, 2002).
Champagne was developed for turf uses including lawns, athletic fields, golf courses, and recreation areas. It should perform well in regions where Kentucky bluegrass is adapted, as a monoculture or in blends with other Kentucky bluegrass cultivars. It should also perform well in mixtures with newer improved fine-leafed fescues (Festuca spp.), tall fescues (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.), and perennial ryegrasses (Lolium perenne L.). Champagne maintained above average turf quality at 1.3- to 2.5-cm-mowing height and exhibited very good wear tolerance in Iowa, indicating its potential for successful use on athletic fields (Morris, 2000).
Lebanon Seaboard maintains Breeder seed of Champagne. Seed production is restricted to three generations of increase from Breeder seed: one each of Foundation, Registered, and Certified. U.S. Plant Variety Protection of Champagne has been applied for (PVP Application no. 200000350).
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Appreciation is expressed to Raymond Schaaf, George Zieminski, Michael Reynolds, James Schumacher, Ronald Bara, Dirk Smith, Melissa Mohr, Barbara Smith, and all participants involved in the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program for their assistance.
NOTES
Publication no. D–12180-16-02. Some of this work was conducted as part of the NJAES Project no. 12180, supported by NJAES funds, other grants and gifts. Additional support was received from the U.S. Golf Association-Golf Course Superintendents Association of America Research Fund, and New Jersey Turfgrass Association. Registration by CSSA.
Accepted for publication July 31, 2002.
REFERENCES
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| The SCI Journals | Agronomy Journal | Vadose Zone Journal | |||
| Journal of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Education |
Soil Science Society of America Journal | ||||
| Journal of Plant Registrations | Journal of Environmental Quality |
The Plant Genome | |||
