Performance and Recovery of Four Turfgrass Species Subjected to Golf Cart Traffic during Prolonged Drought.

Future water availability is a serious issue in the United States, and state and local drought restrictions may be imposed on turf managers with no regard for damage to turfgrass. Past research has been conducted separately into the issues of drought resistance and traffic tolerance in turfgrasses. Our objective was to evaluate the combined effects of golf cart traffic on both warm- (C4) and cool-season (C3) turfgrass species at golf course related heights during a simulated drought period and subsequent recovery period (without traffic). A field study was conducted in Manhattan, KS in 2015 and 2016 under a stationary rainout shelter (4 sections of 18’ x 34’). Two warm-season (buffalograss and zoysiagrass) and cool-season (perennial ryegrass and Kentucky bluegrass) turfgrass species were maintained at golf course fairway- (0.625-inch) and rough-heights (2.5-inch) under a strip-plot arrangement where species were the columns and mow heights were the rows within each section. Due to space constraints of the shelter, direction of simulated two person golf-cart traffic (0 and 16 passes/week) were applied across the length of study area (nonrandomized within sections). A clear plastic cover was installed during late June to exclude rainfall, and turfgrasses underwent a 40-day simulated drought period with no irrigation and with simulated traffic applied to plots weekly. Visual turf quality, soil moisture, turf firmness, and percent green cover were measured weekly over an 80-day period. Bulk density and soil compaction measurements were measured during pre- and post-drought periods. Performance and recovery of the four species under aforementioned conditions (traffic, mow height, and time) will be reported.