Low Temperature Tolerance Assessment in Paspalum

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Abstract
The plant survival of three ecotypes of seashore paspalum (Paspalum vaginatum Swartz) submitted to freezing temperatures was evaluated by two methods: electrolyte leakage and freeze shock‐recovery. Bermudagrass [Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pets. cv. Midiron] was used as a check. Acclimated and nonacclimated plants were evaluated from 1994 to 1995 in Georgia by both methods to compare their performance. Results indicated that seashore paspalum was slower to acclimate than Midiron bermuda under the treatment conditions used in this experiment. However, a significant acclimation effect was found in HI‐1 paspalum, indicating the presence of variability for this trait within the species. The LT50 determinations demonstrated the superior cold hardiness of Midiron compared with seashore paspalum. Among the paspalum ecotypes, HI‐1 ranked superior to Adalayd and PI 299042, respectively, when plants were acclimated (AC). When nonacclimated (NA), Adalayd ranked superior to the other two ecotypes. These genotypic rankings were consistent for both methods of evaluation, indicating their effectiveness for efficiently screening cold hardiness responses among multiple ecotypes. Electrolyte leakage curves indicated that the lethal electrolyte leakage levels for AC and NA paspalum ecotypes were similar. Additional studies are required to evaluate the mechanism present in HI‐l, which showed significant acclimation effects on plant survival.

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