Comparison of Different Methods for Measuring Color and Leaf Texture in Cynodon dactylon L. Pers.

Turfgrasses are the most important cover plants in the world. Quality evaluation of the turfgrasses is usually done by experienced evaluators using color texture, density and uniformity. The results obtained by different evaluators may be different, leading to researcher’s concern. Therefore, some quantitative methods have been used for increasing the aquracy and stability in results. In this study, three color evaluating methods including, spectrophotometery (chlorophyll content), chlorophyllmeter SPAD-502, and evaluator person, as well as leaf texture by evaluator person compared with leaf width were used for 75 populations of Cynodon dactylon L. and Tifdwarf cultivar. The results showed that there were significant differences between populations for the color and leaf texture. There were no significant corelations between measuring color by using specterophotometery, chlorophyllmeter-502, and evaluator. Use of SPAD-502 instrument for measuring leaf color of bermudagrass is not recommended due to small leaf width of this species. However, there was significant corelation between visual evaluation and leaf width in measuring leaf texture. Therefore, when no experienced evaluator is present, leaf width maybe used for measuring leaf texture.