Effects of slope aspect on apparent traits and chlorophyll content of three cool season turf species

In order to analyze the effects of slope aspect on apparent traits and chlorophyll content of three cool season turf species, three cool season turf species, including Festuca arundinacea, Lolium perenne, Poa pratensis, were mix-sowed for slope protection in the semi-shady slope, shady slope and sunny slope and the density, height, coverage, leaf traits and chlorophyll content of each species were determined during the young turf period, mature turf period and one year after mature turf period. The results showed that slope aspect had significant effects (P<0.05) on the height, density, coverage of three species in all of the three periods and the effects increased with the turf growth. Slope aspect had very significant effects (P<0.01) on the turf community density during young turf period and total coverage and density of turf community during mature turf and one year after mature turf. The effects of slope aspects decreased in the following order: semi-shady slope>shady slope>sunny slope, and the effects on turf community decreased in the following order: mature turf >one year after mature turf>young turf. The slope aspect had significant effect (P<0.05) on leaf areas and root-shoot ratios of all three tested species, and had very significant effects (P<0.01) on root length and tiller number whereas the interactions of slope aspect and species only had significant effects on root length. Both slope aspects and the interaction of slope aspect and specieshad very significant effects (P<0.01) on contents of the Chl a, Chl b and Chl (a+b) for all three tested species, however, the slope aspects only had significant effect on Chl a/b (P<0.05) and the interaction of slope aspect and species had no effects on Chl a/b. The three tested species had different performance on these three slope aspects which showed that F. arundinacea performed well, but P. pratensis performed worse on three kinds of slope, L. perenne only performed well on the shady slope. Therefore, the optimal turf species and appropriate management should be selected based on the slope aspect and micro environment to improve ecological benefits and landscape effects.