Abstract
Research was initiated to investigate turf performance under USGA soil system. USGA system 45 centimeters deep was built with rootzone layer, intermediate layer, and drainage layer. Six turfgrass entries were comprised of 3 blends and 3 mixtures from cool-season grasses (CSG). Turfgrass color and quality ratings were best in spring and fall, especially early May to early July and late August to early November. Kentucky bluegrass (KB) consistently produced the greatest performance, while perennial ryegrass (PR) the poorest. Intermediate turf performance between KB and PR was observed with tall fescue (TF). Among CSG mixtures it increased with KB but decreased with PR. There were considerable variations in summer turf Performance. No summer drought injury was found in KB and TF. However, PR showed poor performance through summer as compared with others. Among mixtures, it decreased with PR. It was suggested that PR mix in less than $20\%$ in the mixtures to have an acceptable quality in summer. Cultural intensity also affected it. With lowering mowing height, KB of rhizomatous-type in growth habit kept good quality, while PR and TF with bunch-type in growth habit poor quality. Mowing quality was greatly different among CSG. KB produced clean-cut surface, but PR unclean one. If had an intermediate mowing quality between KB and PR. A great difference in green color retention was observed among CSG. The longest CSG was PR that kept green for 339 days, while the shortest one TF for 267 days. KB continued to keep green for 290 days. The mixtures kept green in color for 292 to 315 days, depending on turfgrass mixing intensity. The greater the PR in content, the longer the green color duration. These results demonstrate that KB was the best and PR the worst among CSG grown in USGA system under a domestic climate, in regards of turf quality, color, mowing quality, summer turf performance and green color duration. KB and TF are most adequate for high-maintenance and low-maintenance area, respectively. In case of mixtures for high-quality turf, it was desirable to use KB-based mixture with PR of below $20\%$ in seeding rate.