Technical


T


urfgrass Seed provides, for different turfgrass species maintained under varying mowing regimes and with simulated wear, tables of performance for individual cultivars.


Performance is measured in terms of various parameters that include shoot density, fineness of leaf, resistance to red thread etc. For perennial ryegrass there are, in the 2016 edition, 114 cultivars evaluated for performance at a ‘lawns’ mowing height of 10 to 15mm and 105 cultivars at a ‘sports’ mowing height of 25mm. Most of these (93) have been evaluated at both mowing heights and so the names of some cultivars appear in more than one table. The equivalent data for a range of other species is also provided and it is these tables that comprise the majority of the booklet. I first became familiar with the overall


approach to the production of Turfgrass Seed as long ago as 1989 when I was working alongside the people who produced it. Since then, while a major overhaul took place


around 2002 when the BSPB took over the running of it from STRI, the basic measurements and evaluation techniques appear to have altered only slightly. The booklet provides a huge amount of information but, being paid for by the seed companies themselves, it might be said that it serves their needs rather more effectively than those of the end users of grass seed. For example, within the industry, a great


deal of attention is paid to the ranking of individual cultivars, how high or low in the tables a cultivar might be. This informs the corporate competition that exists among seed producers, but is of questionable merit for grounds-people and greenkeepers. Identifying from the booklet which cultivar an individual might choose to serve a particular purpose is by no means straightforward and seems to require a good deal of understanding of both turfgrass agronomy and, indeed, of statistics. In my experience, it is only the ranking, high or low, in the tables that can readily be appraised and understood by most users.


This seems rather wasteful of much of the information that is actually available and that is presented. Objectively and fairly interpreting the performance of cultivars in terms of their shoot density or resistance to red thread, for example, is almost impossible even for trained and experienced scientists and agronomists, never mind those whose job it is simply to choose cultivars that suit their particular need for good quality turf surfaces. I think that, while the concept of the booklet is rather magnificent, the data itself could be interpreted so much more easily if it were analysed and presented in a different way. Considering the data has been collected


year upon year, and that it has been re- processed and reprinted each and every January, the amount of accumulated data on turfgrass cultivar development and performance must be truly enormous. With such consistent forms of data, collected over so long a timescale, it will be possible to examine individual cultivar performance under differing annual weather variations or


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