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Variation Among Creeping Bentgrass Cultivars in Recovery from Epidemics of Dollar Spot

Dollar spot was allowed to develop from natural inoculum in 15 cultivars of creeping bentgrass (Agrostis palustris) until epidemics were well established. At that time, initial disease intensities were assessed, and one-half of each plot was treated with cyproconazole at 0.3 kg a.i./ha. For each cultivar, disease intensities were assessed 6 to 14 days after treatment in both treated and untreated subplots. Three general patterns of recovery were observed: (i) significant recovery only with fungicide treatment; (ii) some recovery without treatment but greater recovery with treatment; and (iii) equal recovery with or without treatment. Only one cultivar exhibited the same recovery pattern in all 3 years; 10 of 15 cultivars exhibited the same pattern in 2 years of testing. In 1991 and 1993, nearly all cultivars tested recovered more quickly when treated with cyproconazole than when left untreated. In contrast, nearly half of the cultivars in 1992 exhibited the same level of recovery in both treated and untreated subplots. Weather conditions during the 1992 test period were cooler and wetter than during the other years of the study, which probably favored host growth and turfgrass recovery. While some cultivars exhibited partial resistance to dollar spot, no consistent association was found among creeping bentgrass cultivars between the level of partial resistance to, and recuperative ability from, dollar spot. Although the recuperative potential of cultivars varies in different environments, the ability to recover quickly from a disease outbreak could be a valuable cultivar attribute, particularly if it can sometimes occur without a curative fungicide application.