Mississippi State University unveils new Celebration hybrid bermudagrass
Mississippi State University’s (MSU) Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station officially released Celebration hybrid bermudagrass (MSB 1017) at its 2022 Turfgrass Research Field Day in Starkville, Miss.
Wayne Philley, a former research associate in the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences at MSU, said Celebration hybrid is a fine-leafed, sterile triploid bermudagrass.
The new cultivar is the first release out of the “Celebration X” breeding program, which stemmed from the idea of cross-pollinating Celebration bermudagrass with numerous attractive bermudagrass genotypes collected and maintained over the years at MSU to create new lines.
The goal of the program was to take all of the top characteristics of Celebration while developing new lines with better cold tolerance, a finer texture, fewer seed heads and less thatch. The “Celebration X” breeding program began in 2014 as a partnership between MSU and Sod Solutions.
Progress reports for 2020 and 2021 ranked MSB-1017 at or near the top for fine leaf texture each year when averaged across all sites that reported this trait. Likewise, these progress reports revealed that MSB-1017 produces very few seedheads compared to all other varieties when averaged across sites in both years.
Celebration hybrid is exclusively licensed through Sod Solutions for commercial production and marketing.