Using Disease Resistance in Turfgrass Management

The purpose of using a mixture or a blend is to create a diversified plant community which will have greater resistance to stress and disease, and greater longevity, than a stand composed of a single species or cultivar. Blends must be developed for specific uses, such as high-maintenance turf, low-maintenance turf, or shaded turf. Plants have two types of resistance to disease: specific and generalized. Breeding for generalized resistance is much more difficult and usually more time-consuming than is breeding for specific resistance, but the rewards can be much greater. High-maintenance Kentucky bluegrass turfs should consist of cultivars resistant to the four major diseases of Kentucky bluegrass: melting-out, stripe smut, necrotic ring spot, and summer patch. The term “common” applied to Kentucky bluegrass denotes susceptibility to melting-out; the term “improved” denotes resistance to the disease.