Sod Tensile Strength: How Strong Is Your Bermuda?.

The objectives of this study are to compare advanced bermudagrass lines showing improved drought resistance and cold tolerance and compare them to the sod industry standard ‘Tifway’ which shows good sod quality but poor cold tolerance for Oklahoma.  Sod tensile strength is the resistance of sod to minimum longitudinal stress and maximum shear force required to separate the sod.  Sod tensile strength was assessed using a sod tensile strength testing device built in the form of a table which operated using similar principles to the 32 traditional model as originally described by researchers at Michigan State University.  Each time a sod pad was loaded and clamped into the device, the digital force meter was tared to zero prior to sod tearing.  The point at which the sod pad tore was measured in peak weight mode.  Prior to analysis, raw data were converted using the sod pad width and depth information to reflect the point of sod tensile failure in peak force per unit area (kg dm²).  Vertical shoot growth measurements (cm) were also collected to compare differences between growth habits of advanced bermudagrass lines.  Results of the first year of this trial will be presented at the time of presentation.