Multienvironment evaluation of St. Augustinegrass breeding lines for turf performance via a mixed‐models approach

St. Augustinegrass [Stenotaphrum secundatum (Walter) Kuntze] is a turfgrass extensively used in managed landscapes Florida and throughout the southeastern United States. To develop cultivars with broad adaptation, it necessary to understand effect of genotype × environment interactions. The objective this study was estimate genetic parameters for coverage, turf quality (TQ), color (TC) multienvironment trial across five locations (Arcadia, Hague, Citra, Cocoa Beach, Jay) evaluated over 5 yr (2011–2016). experiment consisted 26 advanced breeding lines, four cultivars: ‘Floraverde’, ‘SS-100’ (Palmetto®), ‘NUF-76’ (Captiva®), ‘Floratam’. Trials were arranged as randomized complete block designs three replications. Linear mixed models repeated measures implemented ASReml-R. Significant differences observed among genotypes. estimates genotype-mean broad-sense heritabilities ranged from 0.37 0.96 0.00 TC, 0.27 0.93 TQ. Genotypic correlations 0.05 0.90 0.48 0.69 0.35 0.83 TQ, indicating stable genotypic performance TQ TC between locations. For most genotypes clustered together, whereas greater variability TC. Genotypes ‘04-4-1-4-6’ ‘FSA1602’ showed best overall different traits analyzed both are recommended further use future crosses program. FSA1602 recently released being commercialized under trademark CitraBlue®.