Research Turfgrass Breeding

Research Areas

Varieties Bred Here

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  Lazer™ Zoysiagrass

  DALZ 1308 (commercial name forthcoming) is a next generation, putting-green-grade hybrid (Z. minima x Z. matrella) zoysiagrass developed by the Dallas Center’s turfgrass breeding program.

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  Lazer™ Zoysiagrass

  Lazer™ Zoysiagrass, tested as DALZ 1308, is a next generation, putting-green-grade hybrid (Z. minima x Z. matrella) zoysiagrass developed by the Dallas Center’s turfgrass breeding program. 

  DALZ 1308 Overview PDF

  Key features

  • Superior turfgrass quality
  • Very fine leaf-texture
  • Ultra-dwarf variety
  • High shoot density
  • Dark green genetic color
  • Fall and winter color retention
  • Low seedhead density
  • Shade tolerant

  Application

  Golf course putting greens across the southern United States

  Evaluation

  DALZ 1308 is being tested across the southern U.S. in the 2013 Warm-Season Grass Putting Greens NTEP (National Turfgrass Evaluation Program).  Visit the NTEP website at http://www.ntep.org/ws.htm for information on the performance of DALZ 1308 by region.

  Licensing

  The national license for production and sale of DALZ 1308 is held by Bladerunner Farms in Poteet, TX. Contact David Doguet by going to http://www.bladerunnerfarms.com/ for information on sub-licensing. 

  Technical information

  Contact Dr. Ambika Chandra at a-chandra@tamu.edu

  
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  Innovation Zoysiagrass

  Innovation Zoysiagrass is a cold hardy hybrid (Z. japonica x Z. matrella) co-developed by Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Kansas State University. It features finer leaf texture and superior density to ‘Meyer’. Its superior turfgrass quality makes KSUZ 0802 the ideal choice for transition zone golf course fairways and tees across the U.S.

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  Innovation Zoysiagrass

  Innovation Zoysiagrass is a cold hardy hybrid (Z. japonica x Z. matrella) co-developed by Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Kansas State University. It features finer leaf texture and superior density to Meyer and its superior turfgrass quality makes KSUZ 0802 the ideal choice for transition zone golf course fairways and tees across the U.S.

  The national license for production and sale of Innovation is held by Sod Solutions. Visit  https://sodsolutions.com/ for availability and variety information on Innovation Zoysiagrass. 

  Key features

  • Cold-hardiness equivalent to Meyer
  • Finer leaf texture than Meyer
  • Better density
  • Superior turfgrass quality

  Application
  Golf course fairways and tees across the U.S. transition zone

  
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  TamStar St. Augustinegrass

  TamStar is the first Interploid Hybrid Turf variety. It offers superior drought resistance, deep rooting potential and tolerance to gray leaf spot disease.

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  TamStar St. Augustinegrass

  Bred at by the world class turfgrass breeding program at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Dallas, TamStar is the first-ever interploid hybrid turf variety. It offers superior drought resistance, deep rooting potential and tolerance to gray leaf spot disease. Information on where to purchase TamStar is at http://tamstargrass.com/where-to-buy/

  TamStar overview PDFs:

  TamStar Best Management Practices
  TamStar Variety Information

  Agronomic Merits:

  1. Highly Sterile Interploid Hybrid
  2. Highly Tolerant to Gray Leaf Spot disease
  3. Resistant to St. Augustine Decline disease
  4. Superior drought resistance
  5. Deeper Rooting Potential
  6. Tolerance to Southern Chinch Bug
  7. Wide adaptation to both southeastern and southwestern US

  Utility of TamStar

  DALSA 0605 is well suited for use on lawns, landscape, and other recreational sites throughout the southern and southeastern United

  States.

  Agronomic Limitations:

  1. Coarse texture
  2. Mowing requirements similar to Floratam

  

  Click the logo for grower contact information, photos and turf variety information at the official TamStar website http://tamstargrass.com

• 

  Royal Zoysiagrass

  Royal is a fine-texture zoysiagrass with excellent salt and shade tolerance. It is ideal for golf fairways, tee boxes, and sports field.

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  Royal Zoysiagrass

  Royal is a fine-texture zoysiagrass with excellent salt and shade tolerance. It is ideal for golf fairways, tee boxes, and sports field.

  Agronomic Merits:

  1. Fine Textured
  2. Excellent Salt Tolerance
  3. Excellent Shade Tolerance
  4. Excellent Resistance to Zoysiagrass Mite
  5. Excellent Fall Color Retention
  6. Rhizoctonia Blight Tolerance
  7. Early Spring Green Up
  8. Good Genetic Color
  9. Moderate Resistance to Tropical Sod Webworm
  10. High Shoot Density

  Utility of Royal:

  1. Golf Course Fairways
  2. Tee Boxes
  3. Sports Fields
  4. Areas in the Coastal Regions of the Southern United States where Shade, Salinity and Zoysiagrass Mites are a problem

  Agronomic Limitations:

  1. Susceptible to Tawny Mole Cricket
  2. Susceptible to Fall Armyworm

  
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  Chisholm Zoysiagrass

  This zoysiagrass is superbly cold hardy compared with other transition zone adapted varieties. It features rapid recovery rates following damage, high shoot density, and low seedhead numbers.

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  Chisholm Zoysiagrass

  This zoysiagrass is superbly cold hardy compared with other transition zone adapted varieties. It features rapid recovery rates following damage, high shoot density, and low seedhead numbers.

  Agronomic Merits

  1. Medium Coarse Textured
  2. Comparable Cold Hardiness to those varieties Adapted to the transition zone
  3. Superior Turf Quality relative to other Zoysia japonica adapted to the transition zone
  4. Rapid Rate of Establishment
  5. Rapid Recovery Rate Following Damage
  6. Good Shade Tolerance
  7. Good Fall Color Retention
  8. High Shoot Density
  9. Low Seedhead Number
  10. Good Resistance to Bluegrass Billbug
  11. Excellent Resistance to Zoysiagrass Mite
  12. Good Resistance to Dollar Spot
  13. Good Resistance to Take-All Patch
  14. Mowing Height: 3.5 – 5.0 cm

  Utility of Chisholm

  1. Recreational Areas/Sports Fields with low light conditions, shaded tee boxes on golf courses, buffer surrounds for bentgrass greens, adapted to the northern edge of the transition zone.
  2. Home Lawns
  3. Industrial Parks

  Agronomic Limitations

  1. Susceptible to Large Patch

  

  Click the image for a PDF overview of Chisholm Zoysiagrass overview.

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  Zorro Zoysiagrass

  Zorro Zoysiagrass is a strong variety for rust resistance, large patch tolerance and good color retention in the fall.

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  Zorro Zoysiagrass

  Zorro Zoysiagrass is a strong variety for rust resistance, large patch tolerance and good color retention in the fall. 

  Agronomic Merits:

  1. Finer-textured
  2. Excellent Shade Tolerance
  3. Excellent Resistance to Billbug
  4. Excellent Resistance to Zoysiagrass Mite
  5. Fall Armyworm Resistance
  6. Good Fall Color Retention
  7. Large Patch Tolerance
  8. Yellow Patch Tolerance
  9. Rust Resistance
  10. Early Spring Green Up
  11. Good Genetic Color
  12. High Shoot Density
  13. Moderate Resistance to Tawny Mole Cricket

  Agronomic Utility:

  1. Recreational areas in the Coastal Regions of the Southern United States in sunny or shaded areas where Rust, Yellow Patch, Large Patch, Zoysiagrass Mites and Billbugs are a problem.
  2. Home Lawns
  3. Parks
  4. Golf Course Fairways
  5. Tee Boxes
  6. Sports Fields

  Agronomic Limitations:

  1. Susceptible to Dollar Spot

  

Dallas Turf Breeding Team

Select Publications

• 2017 | Genome Announcements Draft genome sequence of Salmacisia buchloëana (Basidiomycota), which induces hermaphroditism in dioecious buffalograss
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  Draft genome sequence of Salmacisia buchloëana (Basidiomycota), which induces hermaphroditism in dioecious buffalograss

  2017 | Genome Announcements
  0:e00142-17 https://doi.org/10.1128/genomeA.00142-17
  Huff, D.R., T. Hsiang, A. Chandra and Y. Zhang

  Abstract
  Here, we report the draft genome of Salmacisia buchloëana type strain OK1, a monotypic species of fungi that induces ovary development in genetic male plants and increases reproductive biomass allocation in its host buffalograss. This research will enhance our understanding of fungal manipulation of host development at the genomic level.

  Full publication available here

• 2017 | Journal of Plant Registrations Registration of ‘KSUZ 0802’ Zoysiagrass
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  Registration of ‘KSUZ 0802’ Zoysiagrass

  2017 | Journal of Plant Registrations
  doi:10.3198/jpr2016.03.0010crc
  A. Chandra, J. D. Fry, A. D. Genovesi, M. Meeks, M. C. Engelke, Q. Zhang, D. Okeyo, J. Q. Moss, E. Ervin, Xi Xiong, S. Milla-Lewis, J.T. Brosnan, J. Griffin, L. Parsons

  Abstract
  KSUZ 0802 (Reg. No. CV-282, PI 678793) is a fine-textured, cold-tolerant zoysiagrass (Zoysia spp.) hybrid co-developed and jointly released by Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Dallas, TX, and the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station, Manhattan, KS. KSUZ 0802 is an F1 interspecific hybrid developed in 2001 from a cross between Zoysia matrella (L). Merr. ‘Cavalier’ and an ecotype of Z. japonica Steud. named Anderson 1, a derivative of ‘Chinese Common’. After years of testing (2004 –2008) for turf quality and winter survival at Manhattan, KS, KSUZ 0802 was advanced to a nine location test (2009 –2012) in the transition zone (Wichita and Manhattan, KS, Columbia, MO, Fletcher and Jackson Springs, NC, Stillwater, OK, Knoxville, TN, Virginia Beach and Blacksburg, VA, and Dallas, TX. The freezing tolerance, spring green-up, and fall color retention of KSUZ 0802 is equivalent to ‘Meyer’, but KSUZ 0802 has a finer leaf texture. KSUZ 0802 is also superior to Meyer for turf quality and resistance to bluegrass billbug damage. KSUZ 0802 is well suited for use on golf course fairways and tees, home lawns, and other recreational areas in the transition zone.

  Full publication available at https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/jpr/abstracts/0/0/jpr2016.03.0010crc?access=0&view=pdf

• 2017 | Crop Science Interspecific Hybrids between Pembagrass (Stenotaphrum dimidiatum) and St. Augustinegrass (S. secundatum)
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  Interspecific Hybrids between Pembagrass (Stenotaphrum dimidiatum) and St. Augustinegrass (S. secundatum)

  2017 | Crop Science -
  (Accepted)
  3. Genovesi, A. D., R. Jessup, B. Burson, M. C. Engelke and A. Chandra

  Abstract
  St. Augustinegrass is a popular turfgrass grown in the southern part of the United States with the best shade tolerance of the warm-season grasses. Its stoloniferous growth habit lends itself to vegetative propagation by turfgrass producers. Ploidy differences exist between popular cultivars where diploids such as ‘Raleigh’ and ‘DelMar’ have 2n=2x=18 chromosomes and polyploids such as ‘Floratam’ have 2n=3x=27. Polyploids have been characterized as having genes for chinch bug resistance, but have been under utilized as a breeding resource due to sterility resulting from ploidy differences. At the ASA meetings in 2004 we described the use of embryo rescue as a tool that enabled the recovery of viable progeny from polyploid/diploid crosses. Sterility barriers exist which also limits the use of pembagrass as a genetic resource in crosses with St. Augustinegrass. Certain pembagrass genotypes have been characterized as having genes for resistance to gray leaf spot, southern chinch bug and sting nematode and may prove to be a valuable resource for St. Augustinegrass improvement. This year we report the expanded use of embryo rescue technology to enable interspecific hybridization between St. Augustinegrass and pembagrass. 

  Click for full publication

• 2015 | Plant Breeding The application of flow cytometry and a thioredoxin-like nuclear gene for breeding Poa arachnifera x Poa pratensis hybrids
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  The application of flow cytometry and a thioredoxin-like nuclear gene for breeding Poa arachnifera x Poa pratensis hybrids

  2015 | Plant Breeding
  doi: 10.1111/pbr.12299
  M. Meeks, A. Chandra

  Abstract
  Interspecific hybridization between Poa arachnifera Torr. (Texas bluegrass) and Poa pratensis L. (Kentucky bluegrass) has shown to be a proven method for the development of turf-type hybrid bluegrass cultivars for the southern United States. Unlike in P. pratensis, the use of DNA markers for molecular characterization and flow cytometry to determine nuclear DNA contents has not been extensively utilized in P. arachnifera. In this study, 2C nuclear DNA content of 19 different genotypes of P. arachnifera (both males and females) was determined to range from 8.02 to 13.24 pg/2C using flow cytometry. The DNA content of the hybrids between P. arachnifera and P. pratensis from two different pedigrees was found to be intermediate between their parents. Furthermore, the utility of the trx (thioredoxin-like) nuclear gene in the identification of interspecific hybrids between P. arachnifera and P. pratensis was demonstrated using sequence and phylogenetic analyses. A newly discovered 851-bp trx allele may serve as a useful marker to differentiate P. arachnifera from P. pratensis and provide insights into the evolutionary origin of P. arachnifera.

  Full publication available at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pbr.12299/abstract

• 2011 | Plant Pathology Comparison of screening methods to evaluate the response of St. Augustine grass to Magnaporthe oryzae
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  Comparison of screening methods to evaluate the response of St. Augustine grass to Magnaporthe oryzae

  2011 | Plant Pathology
  61(2): 255-261
  Metz, S.P., A. Chandra, A.D. Genovesi and C. F. Campos

  Abstract
  The objective of this study was to develop a reliable and high throughput screening method to evaluate the response of St. Augustine grass (Stenotaphrum secundatum) genotypes to the grey leaf spot (GLS) caused by Magnaporthe oryzae infection. Whole plant, detached stolon and detached leaf assays under growth chamber conditions were compared to field conditions on eight commercial and nine advanced breeding lines of St. Augustine grass. Disease was assessed using two variables, lesion size (LS) and overall plant disease severity (SEV). LS and SEV were highly correlated for field and growth chamber screening methods using the whole plant assay (LS r2 = 0·79; SEV r2 = 0·83; P ≤ 0·001), the detached stolon assay (LS r2 = 0·75; SEV r2 = 0·72; P ≤ 0·001), and the detached leaf assay (LS r2 = 0·46; SEV r2 = 0·60; P ≤ 0·001). Genotypic variation for resistance in 17 St. Augustine grass genotypes was identified using all screening methods for LS (P < 0·05) and SEV (P < 0·05). The rank-sum method was used to classify St. Augustine grass genotypes into highly resistant (HR), resistant (R), moderately resistant (MR), moderately susceptible (MS), susceptible (S) and highly susceptible (HS) classes based on the rank-sum values of LS and SEV. Two introduced African polyploids used as parents, and two F1 interploid progeny obtained using an in vitro embryo rescue technique, were classified as highly resistant (HR), or resistant (R), across all screening methods.

  Full publication available here http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-3059.2011.02521.x/abstract