However, the identities of bermudagrasses grown on the OSUBF have been lost due to the use of multiple varieties over several years. Turf bermudagrass has been used on the OSUBF in Stillwater, OK, for decades. transition zone, turf bermudagrasses have been increasingly used on sports fields as they possess excellent traffic and drought tolerance, less damage from diseases and insects, and quicker recovery from damage than many other turfgrasses. These four distinct lines have potential to be released as new varieties if they demonstrate superior turf quality traits and adaptation over time. The three OSU experimental clones were different from each other and had different fingerprints from the other tested varieties based on SSR profiles, indicating they are new breeding lines. Fifteen out of 30 additional SSR markers also showed differences between the OSUBF bermudagrass and ‘Astro-DLM’. The OSUBF bermudagrass had the same fingerprint as ‘Astro-DLM’ bermudagrass for 14 out of 16 SSRs genotyped.

SSR marker genotyping data indicated that the five OSUBF plants were clones of an identical bermudagrass. Five OSUBF samples were analyzed using simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers, along with 24 clonal, commercially available turf bermudagrass varieties widely used in Oklahoma, the three OSU experimental clones, six randomly selected single plants from ‘Riviera’, and two controls for common bermudagrass ( Cynodon dactylon) and african bermudagrass ( Cynodon transvaalensis). The secondary objective was to create molecular marker profiles for these three experimental lines. Recently, the OSU turf bermudagrass breeding program developed and entered three fairway-type clonal bermudagrasses in the 2013 National Turfgrass Evaluation Program (NTEP) bermudagrass trial: OKC 1131, OKC 1163, and OKC 1302.

Accordingly, the major objective of this study was to identify if the desirable bermudagrass plants were from commercially available known varieties. On the Oklahoma State University (OSU) Baseball Field (OSUBF) in Stillwater, OK, some bermudagrass ( Cynodon sp.) plants exhibited desirable traits but their exact identities were unknown due to the installation of multiple varieties over time. Turfgrass varietal identification is critical and allows turfgrass professionals to manage the turf based on the cultural requirements of the variety.

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