Evaluation of Native Grasses for Sustainable Turfgrass in the Bioclimatic Mediterranean Region

This study reports the results of a research project (Mi.T.E.A.Med) funded by the Italian Ministry of Agriculture. The research was organised in two phases: the first one involved the screening of the study area (Southern Italy) to find suitable turfgrass species and the second one focused on ex situ cultivation to test the ecotypes with salinity resistance. During the first step of the research, 11 sites from 6 regions of Southern and Central Italy were identified. In these sites, 24 ecotypes of Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers. were collected and their habitus, phenology, and some biometric parameters have been determined. During the 2 years of research, both botanic and agronomic characterisation of the collected C. dactylon ecotypes was carried out. Some native accessions showed a behaviour similar to commercial cultivars, while an ecotype from the Abruzzo Region showed better results compared to the commercial cultivars for several quality indices. The results of this project showed that Mediterranean-adapted native grass species (e.g. Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers.) are worth investigating for turfgrass, making for their performance and low resource requirement (especially water). This species can be used as promising alternatives to conventional non-native turfgrasses.