Seashore Paspalum Offers Alternative for the Future

Beginning with funding from the USGA in 1993, a dedicated effort was initiated to genetically enhance seashore paspalum for golf course use. The grass has been around for centuries, actually evolving on sand dunes exposed only to ocean water in South Africa. It's somewhat ironic that this grass evolved in the same country as the African bermudagrass, but was never recognized for anything other than its ability to grow in salt-affected environments. Seashore paspalum was duly noted as surviving the saline and moist habitats that dooms most bermudgrasses. Legendary turf professor O.J. Noer was instrumental during the 1950s for moving the grass around the southeastern United States and Hawaii. A renewed effort occurred during the 1970s and 1980s with the import of cultivars from Australia. Worldwide movement of this grass has been documented (Duncan and Carrow, 2000). Beginning in 1993, a systematic breeding and management research program was started at the University of Georgia-Griffin to