Abstract:

To explore the possibility of using conventional plant growth data to evaluate and measure the anti-degradation ability of turfgrass, this study took six common turfgrasses as the research objects, established two experimental treatments as “maintaining natural state” (MNS) and “manually removing weeds” (MRW), to investigate three sets of data for five consecutive years, including the diversity of plant species, the number of plant individuals, and the annual production of plants per unit area, and analyzed their changing tendencies and patterns with the increasing years after the lawns were cultivated. The results showed that the management measures of MRW could significantly reduce the number of weeds in various types of lawns, ensuring the neatness and ornamental value of the lawn. With the increasing years after the lawns were cultivated, the plant diversity per unit area of six types of lawns was all distributed following a decay exponential modal; the decay rate of Trifolium repens was the fastest one among the six lawns in the MRW experimental treatment, indicating that the management measures of MRW had the most obvious effects on the management of T. repens lawn; the decay rates of Festuca elata and Cynodon dactylon were the fastest in the MNS experimental treatment, and they still were dominant plant species in the experimental plots, indicating that they had strong competitiveness. Due to different reproductive methods, the number of plant individuals per unit area was distributed following a binomial model in the experimental plot of C. dactylon, and was distributed following a decay exponential model in the experimental plots of the other five lawns. The data of plant annual production were distributed following a binomial model in all six lawns. The time required to reach the maximum value was the longest in the experimental plot of Agrostis stolonifera in the experimental treatment of MRW, and was the longest in the experimental plot of C. dactylon in the experimental treatment of MNS, indicating that the management measures of MRW had the most significant effects on delaying the degradation of A. stolonifera lawn and C. dactylon had the strongest competitive ability in the natural state. The study results indicate that the three sets of data, including the diversity of plant species, the number of individual plants, and the annual production of plants per unit area, can be used to evaluate and measure the anti-degradation ability of turfgrasses. This can provide scientific suggestions and reasonable opinions for selecting corresponding turfgrasses in different regions based on local climate conditions and the purpose of lawn construction for improving lawn quality, delaying lawn degradation, and extending lawn service life.

Key words: turfgrass, anti-degradation ability, Cynodon dactylon, Agrostis stolonifera, Lolium perenne, Buchloe dactyloides, Festuca elata, Trifolium repens, plant species diversity, plant individual density, plant annual production