The 2008 Clemson Study

Trials and evaluations of TifGrand™ are ongoing.

One of the most recent university studies, published in 2008, was conducted at Clemson University and in these trials, like many others, TifGrand™(PP21017) outscored the competition, including Celebration common bernudagrass, by a wide margin. The table below, with TifGrand™(PP21017) and Celebration isolated for clarity, shows the actual scores reported by the Clemson study.

TEST	CONDITION	CULTIVAR	SCORE
Turfgrass Quality (TQ) Ranking WEEK 4	Full-Sun	TifGrand™ Certified 1 Celebration common	7.3 7.5
	64% Continuous Shade	TifGrand™ Certified Celebration common	6.2 6.5
Turfgrass Quality (TQ) Ranking WEEK 8	Full-Sun	TifGrand™ Certified Celebration common	7.8 7.3
	64% Continuous Shade	TifGrand™ Certified Celebration common	4.8 4.5
Total Shoot Chlorophyll WEEK 4	Full-Sun	TifGrand™ Certified Celebration common	2.39 1.78
	64% Continuous Shade	TifGrand™ Certified Celebration common	2.47 2.08
Total Shoot Chlorophyll WEEK 8	Full-Sun	TifGrand™ Certified Celebration common	3.19 2.64
	64% Continuous Shade	TifGrand™ Certified Celebration common	2.77 2.24
Root Biomass 2	Full-Sun	TifGrand™ Certified Celebration common	0.127 0.201
	64% Continuous Shade	TifGrand™ Certified Celebration common	0.049 0.064
Root Length	Full-Sun	TifGrand™ Certified Celebration common	9.23 8.78
	64% Continuous Shade	TifGrand™ Certified Celebration common	8.72 7.00

From: Baldwin, C. M., H. Liu, and L. B. McCarty. 2008. Diversity of 42 bermudagrass cultivars in a reduced light environment. II International Conference on Turfgrass Science and Management for Sports Fields. Acta Hort. (ISHS) 783:147-158.

Notes:
1. TifGrand™(PP21017) was initially evaluated as Tift No. 4 and/or ST-5. It is now marketed as TifGrand™ (PP21017) and the cultivar name has been changed in this table to reflect that.

2. Additional considerations* concerning Root Biomass:

*These considerations are not part of the study conclusions.

Using the actual data from this study it is clear that:

• TifGrand™(PP21017) Certified Bermuda scored higher in 8 categories;
• Celebration common bermudagrass scored higher in only 4 categories;
• Celebration common bermudagrass scored higher in Shade Tolerance at 4 weeks and lower at 8 weeks - Celebration actually declined when compared over time;
• TifGrand™(PP21017) Certified Bermuda scored higher for Shade Tolerance than Celebration common bermudagrass after 8 weeks in 64% continuous shade.

A copy of the full report is right here and we invite you to read it in detail and to form your own conclusions based on the actual results reported.

If you would rather a pdf version, click here.

To see our ad "Don't settle for Second Best" please click here.