Effects of drip irrigation and cultivation methods on establishment of seeded tall fescue

Abstract

Subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) may save water but its effectiveness in establishing seeded turfgrass across different soil types and climates requires further investigation. This study was conducted in fine‐textured soils near Manhattan, KS. Our objectives were to investigate establishment of seeded tall fescue [Schedonorus arundinaceus (Schreb.) Dumort.] using: (a) SDI, aboveground drip irrigation (AGD), and overhead sprinkler irrigation (OH); and (b) core aeration vs. verticutting for seedbed preparation. Irrigation was applied daily at 150% reference evapotranspiration (ETo) as follows: OH, three times (3×) daily at 50% ETo per irrigation; AGD, 3× daily at 50% ETo per irrigation; SDI, one time (1×), two times (2×), and 3× daily at 150, 75, and 50% ETo per irrigation, respectively. Additional frequencies/amounts were included with SDI because it was unknown how soil hydraulic conductivity would affect uniformity of surface wetting and seed germination. Establishment was evaluated with green cover (GC), visual turfgrass quality (TQ), and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). Establishment was faster with SDI than AGD or OH, and similar between AGD and OH. By the end of the 1st month after seeding, GC and NDVI were up to 25 and 15% greater, respectively, in SDI than AGD and OH. In SDI, establishment was fastest when water was applied 2× vs. 3× or 1× d–1. Cultivation effects were negligible, indicating seedbed preparation with either method is appropriate as long as depths of cultivation and driplines are considered to avoid SDI damage. Results indicate seeded tall fescue turfgrass can be established with SDI in fine‐textured soils in a transition zone climate.

Considerations with using unmanned aircraft systems in turfgrass

“…The visible atmospherically resistant index (VARI; Table 1), which uses green and red wavebands in the visible spectrum and was developed to reduce atmospheric effects (Gitelson et al, 2002), was strongly correlated with PGC of turfgrass under drought stress in a sUAS study (Zhang et al, 2019b). The dark green color index (DGCI) derived from sUAS RGB images was highly correlated with sUAS measurements of NDVI (r = 0.85 to 0.96; under different N fertilization regimes), which implies DGCI might be used in lieu of NDVI to detect droughtinduced leaf firing when spectral sensors that measure NIR reflectance are not available (Caturegli et al, 2019); strong relationships between NDVI and PGC in turfgrass have been reported by others using sUAS-based measurements (Bach et al, 2022a) and ground-based measurements (Bell et al, 2002;Bremer et al, 2011b).…”

“…However, recent sUAS studies have indicated moderate to strong correlations between ground-and sUAS-based measurements of spectral reflectance in turfgrass. Correlations between ground-and sUAS-based NDVI ranged from r=0.63 to 0.97 in a number of turfgrass studies (Caturegli et al, 2016;Hong et al, 2019b;Zhang et al, 2019b;Friell and Straw, 2021;Bach et al, 2022aBach et al, , 2022b. Hong et al (2019b) also reported strong correlations (r=0.69 to 0.87) between sUAS-based broadband NIR (about 680-780 nm) and ground-based narrowband NIR (around 780 nm) in drought-stressed turfgrass.…”

“…A camera is inserted on the top of the metal box to take pictures. Various turfgrass parameters are derived from DIA such as PGC, turf color, turfgrass establishment, drought stress, divot analysis, wear tolerance, and disease analysis (Patton et al, 2007;Steinke et al, 2010;Trappe et al, 2011aTrappe et al, , 2011bKarcher and Richardson, 2013;Bach et al, 2022aBach et al, , 2022b. This method has worked well in turfgrass research except that it remains time consuming for turfgrass breeders to collect pictures on thousands of field plots in a timely manner.…”