Patriot turf bermudagrass
‘Patriot’ is an improved clonal turf bermudagrass cultivar suitable for many applications including golf course fairways and tees athletic fields, home and commercial landscape sites, and parks and playgrounds. It is a tetraploid (2n=4x=36 chromosomes) interspecific F1 hybrid from a cross of Cynodon dactylon by C. transvaalensis characterized by dark blue-green color, vigorous growth, good winter hardiness, and good turf quality.
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1. Field of the Invention
‘Patriot’ bermudagrass is a clonally propagated F1 hybrid plant from a cross of Cynodon dactylon var. dactylon by C. transvaalensis. The cultivar will be marketed as Certified class sod and/or Certified class sprigs.
Background of the Invention:
The maternal parent of ‘Patriot’ was ‘Tifton 10’ bermudagrass, Cynodon dactylon var. dactylon. The pollen parent of ‘Patriot’ was a selected plant of Cynodon transvaalensis designated by its field nursery location identity as 4200 TN 26-8. ‘Tifton 10’ is a commercial cultivar that differs from most C. dactylon plants in having 54 chromosomes (hexaploid; 2n=6x=54) compared to the usual 36 chromosomes (tetraploid; 2n=4x=36) and having a darker green foliage color (Hanna, et al., 1990). The C. transvaalensis pollen parent has 18 chromosomes (diploid; 2n=2x=18). ‘Patriot’ is a tetraploid with 2n=4x=36 chromosomes, presumably having inherited 27 chromosomes (3 genomes) from ‘Tifton 10’ and 9 chromosomes (1 genome) from the C. transvaalensis parent.
The cross between ‘Tifton 10’ and C. transvaalensis “4200 TN 26-8” was made in 1992. Seeds from this cross and crosses between other parent plants were germinated in late winter 1993 and the seedlings individually planted in greenhouse pots. The potted plants were transplanted to a field screening nursery in spring 1993 as spaced (3 meter centers) plants. ‘Patriot’ was first vegetatively propagated in late 1994. The vegatative propagation occurred in a greenhouse on the Agronomy Farm, Oklahoma State University and was selected in late 1994 for advancement to more comprehensive testing including testing in replicated experiments through time and space to measure adaptation and performance characteristics. At the time of its first selection in 1994 it was identified as “OKC 18-4” and evaluated under this designation. ‘Patriot’ has been clonally propagated through many generations since 1994 without any indication of genetic change. Advanced generation clonal plants appear identical to the original plant in morphological phenotype and in genetic characteristics that have been measured.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION‘Patriot’ bermudagrass produces a high quality turf suitable for most turf applications including golf course fairways and tees, home lawns, commercial lawns, playgrounds, parks, and athletic fields. ‘Patriot’ produces a dense, dark-green turf of high visual quality. It has medium-fine texture, grows vigorously, and has good cold hardiness. These characteristics make it especially useful in climatic regions representing zones of transition between cool- and warm-season turfgrass species. ‘Patriot’ is an F1 hybrid of the cross ‘Tifton 10’ by C. transvaalensis “4200 TN 26-8”. It has 2n=4x=36 chromosomes having inherited 27 chromosomes (3 genomes) from ‘Tifton 10’ and 9 chromosomes (1 genome) from C. transvaalensis. ‘Patriot’ is highly sterile and is propagated asexually by sprigs and sod. ‘Patriot’ can be distinguished from other turf bermudagrass cultivars by morphological and/or genetic characteristics outlined herein.
‘Patriot’ experimental name “OKC 18-4”) is a distinct cultivar of Cynodon from the interspecific cross of C. dactylon Pers. cv. ‘Tifton 10’ and C. transvaalensis Burtt-Davy cv. ‘4200 TN 26-8’. It was developed and vegetatively propagated by the Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station, Stillwater, Okla. Identifying morphological characteristics of ‘Patriot’ are its dark green color, strong anthocyanin pigmentation of stolon internodes during periods of cool temperatures, and high shoot density. It is intermediate to its parents in plant size and texture as illustrated in FIG. 1. ‘Patriot’ has finer texture than ‘Tifton 10’, ‘U-3’, and ‘Quickstand’ as illustrated in
‘Patriot’ was evaluated under the experimental name ‘OKC 18-4’ in the National Turf Evaluation Program (NTEP) bermudagrass test conducted at 21 locations from 1997 through 2001. This multi-environment testing provided the most definitive data on the performance characteristics of ‘Patriot’ relative to other major commercial clonal turf bermudagrass cultivars. The trademarked cultivar ‘Shanghai’ in this test is indicated by descriptions published by the Patton Seed Co. (2003) and Landry (2003) to be the same as ‘Tifton-10’.
‘Patriot’ produces a high quality turf surface as indicated by visual ratings of turf quality (Table 1, FIG. 6). Under management schedule “A” ½ to ¾ in. mowing height), the mean turf quality rating of ‘Patriot’ (6.1) was less than that of Tifway (6.4) and Tifsport (6.5), equal to that of CN 2-9, and greater than all other cultivars, including ‘Shanghai’. Under management schedule “B” ¾ to 1 inch mowing height), the mean turf quality rating of ‘Patriot’ (6.6) was significantly higher than those of all cultivars except ‘Midlawn’.
‘Patriot’ is relatively stable in turfgrass quality performance across environments (Table 2). It was lowest of all clonal varieties in sum-of-ranks across locations and finished in the top 25% of all entries in 65% of the locations.
‘Patriot’ has not shown high susceptibility to the major disease or insect pests of turf bermudagrass in the northern half of geographic region of bermudagrass use in the U.S. where it is expected to primarily be used. Spring dead spot disease caused by Ophiosphaerella herpotricha is the most serious disease of turf bermudagrass in the upper south of the U.S. ‘Patriot’ was evaluated for response to spring dead spot disease in a controlled test at Stillwater, Okla. during 2000 through 2002. Replicated plots were inoculated in September 1997 with Ophiosphaerella herpotricha. Measurements of the size of necrotic patches indicated ‘Patriot’ to have good tolerance to the disease (Table 10), much higher than very susceptible cultivars such as Tifway. ‘Patriot’ has exhibited very little leaf disease indicating it to be highly resistant to such disease caused by Bipolaris cynodontis and other dematiaceous fungal pathogens. ‘Patriot’ has good resistance to the bermudagrass stunt mite, Aceria neocynodonis, as indicated by minimal infestation when grown in field nurseries with other bermudagrasses that exhibited severe infestation. ‘Patriot’ has not been evaluated for response to fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda, black cutworm, Agriotis ipsilon, or sod webworm, Herpetogramma phaeopteralis, all pests of bermudagrass. However, no sigificant injury was observed due to these pests during the time ‘Patriot’ was under evaluation.
Mean genetic color ratings of ‘Patriot’ were the same as those of Shanghai and CN 2-9 and greater than all other clonal cultivars (Table 3). ‘Patriot’ has nearly the same dark blue-green color of Tifton-10 (FIG. 1).
‘Patriot’ bermudagrass fertilized monthly during the growing season with nitrogen at rates of 1.0 to 1.5 Lbs. N/1000 ft2 has the following color scale ratings using Munsell® Color Charts (Munsell Color, GretabMacbeth, LLC, 617 Little Britain Road, New Windsor, N.Y. 12553) for Plant Tissues.
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- 1. ‘Patriot’ produces leaves of dark green color [7.5 GY (4/4 to 4/6)].
- 2. ‘Patriot’ produces leaf sheaths that vary in color from green [7.5 GY. (6/60to 6/8)] to dark purple [10RP (2/4 to 3/4)]. The purple anthocyanin pigmentation varies with age of the sheaths and with environmental conditions, being more pronounced in older tissues and when the plant is subjected to cool termperatures. However, anthocyanin pigmentation is usually present in leaf sheaths of ‘Patriot’ throughout the growing season, with the presence and intensity the pigmentation tending to be greater in leaf sheaths emanating from stolons compared to leaf sheaths of upright shoots. Pigmentation usually first develops at the base of the sheath and may ultimately occur throughout the sheath.
- 3. ‘Patriot’ produces internodes that vary in color from light green [10Y (5/4 to 6/4)] to dark purple [(10RP (2/4 to 3/4)]. As in the case of leaf sheaths, anthocyanin pigmentation in internodes varies with age of tissue and environmental conditions in internodes as in leaves. Pigmentation tends to be more pronounced in older tissues and when plants are subjected to cool conditions. The presence and intensity of pigmentation tends to be greater in internodes emanating from stolons compared to upright shoots.
- 4. ‘Patriot’ bears inflorescences of light green color [2GY (6/6 to 6/8)]. At maturity the inflorescences are straw colored [2.5YG (6/4/ to 7/4)].
Mean leaf texture of ‘Patriot’ was rated equal to Midlawn and CN 2-9, finer than Shanghai, and coarser than other clonal cultivars (Table 4). ‘Patriot’ has distinctly finer leaf texture than Tifton-10 (FIG. 1).
Mean stand density (Table 5) and mean percent living ground cover (Table 6) of ‘Patriot’ as indicated by ratings are greatest during summer months and on a par with other clonal cultivars throughout the growing season.
‘Patriot’ has good winter hardiness relative to other turf bermudagrass cultivars as indicated by winter injury ratings at Wichita, Kans. (Table 7) and laboratory measure of response to low freezing temperatures (Table 8). Its good low temperature tolerance reduces risk of winter injury relative to less winter hardy cultivars when grown in colder climatic regions where bermudagrass is used. The earlier growth of ‘Patriot’ relative to ‘TifSport’ at Stillwater, Okla. (36.06° N. Latitude; 9797.03 w. Longitude) is illustrated in FIG. 7.
‘Patriot’ has vigorous growth relative to other clonal cultivars as indicated by its spread during establishment at Fayetteville, Ark., Griffin, Ga., Lexington, Ky. and Starkville, Miss. (Table 9). The rate of spread during establishment of ‘Patriot’ and its growth potential are similar to Tifton 10 (Shanghai) although it has smaller plant size (texture). Ratings of seedhead abundance relative to other clonal cultivars may be found in Table 9a.
‘Patriot’ can be distinguished from other cultivars by DNA profiling.
The nuceotide sequence of DAF primer 9111 is ‘GAAACGCC’ (SEQ ID NO: 1). DAF primer 9111 was obtained from Integrated DNA Technologies, Inc., 1710 Commercial Park, Coralville, Iowa 52241.
Claims
1. A bermudagrass plant substantially as described and illustrated in the specification herein.
- United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, National Bermudagrass Test Final Report 1997-2001, NTEP No. 02-7.
- Anderson et al., Longer Exposure Durations Increase Freeze Damage to Turf Bermudagrasses, 2003, Crop Sci., vol. 43, pp 973-977.
- Anonymous, Shanghai Bermudagrass—The True Blue-Green Winter Hardy Grass for the South, Access Jul. 8, 2003, SuperSod, a division of Patten Seed Company, published on world wide web at http://www.pattenseed.com/sod-bgsh.html.
- Hanna et al., Registration of ‘Tifton 10’ Bermudagrass, 1990, Crop Sci., vol. 30(6), pp 1355-1356.
- Landry, Bermudagrass Lawn Management, 1996, Educational Support Services of the Cooperative Extension Service of The University of Georgia, Circular 837.
Type: Grant
Filed: Jun 22, 2004
Date of Patent: Jul 11, 2006
Assignee: The Board of Regents for Oklahoma State University (Stillwater, OK)
Inventors: Charles M. Taliaferro (Stillwater, OK), Dennis L. Martin (Stillwater, OK), Jeffrey A. Anderson (Stillwater, OK), Michael P. Anderson (Stillwater, OK)
Primary Examiner: Anne Marie Grunberg
Assistant Examiner: Annette H Para
Attorney: Fellers, Snider, Blankenship, Bailey & Tippens, P.C.
Application Number: 10/873,809