New browntop bentgrass enhances specialist golf green mixtures

By Alistair February 20, 2020 07:07 Updated

Germinal has updated two of its greens-specific bentgrass blends by adding newly listed browntop cultivar, Musket, to its Aber®Majesty and ForeFront Greens seed mixtures.

Musket is one of three new browntop bentgrass cultivars to join the BSPB’s Table G1 (greens, close mown 4-7mm trials) in 2020. It is also the latest addition to Germinal’s extensive bentgrass portfolio which includes a range of high quality browntop and creeping bentgrass mixtures to suit every circumstance and budget.

“Musket was bred using germplasm that combines early spring green-up traits with improved summer performance,” explains Richard Brown, amenity sales manager for Germinal GB. “As well as offering all the intrinsic benefits of a modern browntop bentgrass such as a prostrate growth habit, high shoot density, good wear tolerance and reduced input requirement, Musket also exhibits excellent resistance to fusarium.

“With the recent loss of several key fungicides already forcing greenkeepers to overseed more frequently in order to keep their greens disease-free, selecting a naturally resistant cultivar such as Musket is the logical way forward. We have therefore added Musket to two of our specialist golf greens seed mixtures, AberMajesty and ForeFront Greens, to bolster their varietal diversity and natural disease resistance so that greenkeepers can establish and maintain high quality, consistent greens with excellent year-round playability.”

For 2020, Germinal’s AberMajesty mixture will consist of 45 per cent Aber®Regal (browntop bent), 45 per cent Aber®Royal (browntop bent) and 10 per cent Musket (browntop bent).

ForeFront Greens will be made up of 40 per cent 007 DSB (creeping bent), 25 per cent AberRegal (browntop bent), 25 per cent AberRoyal (browntop bent) and 10 per cent Musket (browntop bent).