INVESTIGATIONS ON THE AGRONOMIC AND SPORTS FIELD CHARACTERISTICS OF SOME TURF ALTERNATIVES CUT AT DIFFERENT HEIGHTS IN A MEDITERRANEAN ENVIRONMENT

Abstract

In an attempt to investigate the turf alternatives most adaptable to sports fields under Mediterranean ecology, three different turf alternatives (1- Tall Fescue 100%, 2- Tall Fescue 60% + Perennial Rye Grass 40% and 3- Traditional Cool Season Sports Turf Mixture: Perennial Rye Grass 50%, Creeping Red Fescue 20%, Chewing's Red Fescue 10%, Sheep Fescue 10%, Kentucky Blue Grass 10%) under three vertical cutting height regimes (12 - 22 - 32 mm) were tested in the turf experimental fields of Ege University Bayindir Vocational School, Izmir/Turkey in 2012-2014. Turf color and cover were determined to evaluate the adaptability of selected turf alternatives in the experiment. Ball rebound, ball roll, and evenness were also measured to identify the playing quality parameters of these turf stands in the same experimental plots. The overall results obtained from the experiment revealed that statistically significant differences occurred among the turf alternatives and different cutting heights. However, pure tall fescue turf and the 60% tall fescue + 40% perennial rye grass turf mixture performed better than the traditional mixture. Although significant differences were recorded among the mowing heights, pure tall fescue turf displayed better performance compared to traditional cool season sports turf mixture.