Cool- and Warm-Season Turfgrass Irrigation with Subsurface Drip and Sprinkler Methods Using Different Water Management Strategies and Tools

This study compared the performances of subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) to sprinkler irrigation (SI) of cool-season turf mix (CS) and warm-season (WS) turfgrass species while investigating their response to different irrigation scheduling strategies. Moreover, the suitability of crop water stress index (CWSI) for monitoring water stress and scheduling irrigation was tested. Irrigation was applied up to the field capacity when 30%, 50% and 70% of total available water was consumed. All parameters, including color, quality, fresh yield, dry matter yield, irrigation water productivity, water productivity, vegetation height and mowing, differed significantly for different irrigation methods and water supply strategies for both species. The best visual turf was maintained under non-limiting soil moisture conditions (30%) in all main and sub-treatments. At this irrigation threshold, maximum and minimum amounts of irrigation water were applied in SI CS treatment (523.5 mm) and SDI WS treatment (298.6 mm), respectively. Warm-season turf required up to 40% less water than cool-season turf mix. In the water-scarce regions, 50% treatment for cool-season and 70% treatment for warm-season can be suggested for acceptable visual quality, lower water consumption and less frequent clipping. The mean CWSI before irrigation, representing irrigation threshold, ranged between 0.22-0.70.

Automated summary

This study compared the performances of subsurface drip irrigation and sprinkler irrigation on cool-season and warm-season turfgrass species and tested the suitability of crop water stress index (CWSI) for monitoring water stress and scheduling irrigation. Different irrigation methods and water supply strategies significantly affected various parameters, including color, quality, yield, productivity, height, and mowing. The results showed that warm-season turf required less water than cool-season turf mix.