Influence of different cultivation practices on seed production of ‘Lanyin III’ Zoysiagrass

‘Lanyin Ⅲ’ Zoysiagrass (Zoysia japonica cv. Lanyin No.Ⅲ) has widely application on sports turfs in south China. However, it has been limited for further application in larger market due to lower seed yields and poor seed setting rate. This study was aimed to increase seed production of ‘Lanyin Ⅲ’ Zoysiagrass through cultivation practices, such as mowing frequency and time, fertilization and planting row-spacing. Branches density, spike density, ear length, grain number per ear, seed yield, weight of 1 000 seeds, seed setting rate and germination percentage of seed were evaluated during this experiment. The results showed that these three cultivation practices had impacts on seed production of ‘Lanyin Ⅲ’ Zoysiagrass and the effects of row-spacing were biggest among them. The optimal cultivation practices for seed production of ‘Lanyin Ⅲ’ Zoysiagrass were 50 cm row-spacing, mowing one time in May and fertilization of N fertilizer three times during the growing season. The results will provide theoretical basis for the feasibility of seed production of ‘Lanyin Ⅲ’ Zoysiagrass.