Release of KSUZ 0802 Zoysiagrass

A new zoysiagrass cultivar, under the experimental designation KSUZ 0802, was released jointly by the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station and Texas A&M AgriLife Research in 2015.

Initially, more than 800 individual, genetically different hybrids were developed at Texas A&M AgriLife Research -Dallas in 2001.Grasses were planted in Manhattan, KS in 2004and evaluated for quality and winter survival between 2004and 2006.KSUZ 0802 was one of 31 hybrids selected for further evaluation at Manhattan in 2007 and 2008 under golf course conditions.These 31 were later narrowed to 7 hybrids, including KSUZ 0802, which were evaluated at nine locations in the transition zone under typical lawn or golf course fairway management conditions from 2009 to 2012.The locations were Wichita and Manhattan, KS; Columbia, MO; Fletcher and Jackson Springs, NC; Stillwater, OK; Knoxville, TN; Virginia Beach, and Blacksburg, VA; and Dallas, TX.
Results.In general, KSUZ 0802 has a finer leaf texture and better density relative to Meyer, which results in better overall turf quality (Fig. 2 and 3).Average turf quality of KSUZ 0802 (average rating of 6.1 on a 1 to 9 scale) was higher than Meyer (average rating of 5.5) maintained at lawn height in Wichita, Kansas; Jackson Springs, NC; Stillwater, OK; Dallas, TX; and Blacksburg, VA.At fairway height, quality of KSUZ 0802 (average of 6.9) was superior to Meyer (average of 5.6) at the two locations it was evaluated -Manhattan, KS and Stillwater, OK.
To summarize aforementioned results, and other research that has been done with KSUZ 0802, its freezing tolerance, spring green-up and fall color retention are equivalent to Meyer, but it has a finer leaf texture than Meyer.KSUZ 0802 is also superior to Meyer for turfgrass quality and resistance to bluegrass billbug (Sphenophorus parvulus) damage.KSUZ 0802 is well suited for use on golf course fairways and tees, home lawns, and other recreational areas in the transition zone.It is currently under evaluation by sod growers in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Illinois, Indiana, and North

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.KSUZ 0802 and Meyer are among only a few zoysiagrasses that have no winter injury hardiness in May 2015 at Manhattan, KS.

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. The finer texture and improved density of KSUZ 0802 (bottom) is obvious when compared to Meyer (top).