18 BARENBRUGSPORT2025 | PRODUCT GUIDE SGT Sustainable Hard Fescue Hard fescue as a turfgrass is a large part of the SGT promise. The species features strongly in bothSGT Fine Fescue and SGT Rye Fairway. The species traits of hard fescue are well documented – its value as a turfgrass comes from its ability to withstand abiotic stressessuchasdroughtandlowfertility. Thishasbeen proven in independent trials, for example in rainout/drought trials at Landlab in Italy and Barenbrug breeding stations, hard fescue always out-performs red fescue during stress periods (Fig. 1). Disease Tolerance Disease tolerance is an increasingly important focus of Barenbrug’s turfgrass breeding programme for Europe. SGT products contain varieties that have the highest levels of protection against a range of relevant pathogens. Hard fescue as a species has excellent tolerance toDollar Spot, which is an increasing concern, particularly on links courses. Figure 3 has data from recent NTEP trials, showing that hard and sheep’s offers higher levels of tolerance on average compared to the red fescue sub-species. Overseeding fairways withSGT Fine Fescue is likely to be a good option to improve fairway performance against Dollar Spot. Pest Tolerance Hard fescue swards are also showing consistently lower damage from pests, including leatherjackets and worms. It appears that the abrasive texture of the leaves and/or the linin content of any thatch build-up decreases egg-laying and worm-casting (see example in Fig. 4). Figure2–GEVES Turfgrass List hard & sheep’s fescue 2024 summarised data. Figure1 - Drone Image From Landlab. Highlighted plots are the hard fescue. The quality and endurance of hard fescue stood alone during the most intense heat. Variety Lawns Index Shoot Density Global Aesthetic Qualities Beacon 7.34 8.85 7.61 Aloa 7.28 8.58 7.47 Barlegant 7.03 8.53 7.33 Hardtop 6.74 8.08 6.78 Quatro 6.6 7.91 6.45 Reliant II 6.45 7.89 6.42 Dumas 1 6.31 7.43 6.35 Mentor 6.23 7.87 6.28 Blues 5.71 7.04 5.63 Hard fescue has been worked on and improved by plant breeders extensively over the last 15-20 years. We are now seeing this work bear fruit, with new and improved cultivars reaching the market. Included in SGT Fine Fescue for 2025 are two new varieties of hard fescue, Barlegant and Beacon. Barlegant offers a new standard of turf quality for the species and is listed as the new #1 cultivar in Table L6 of Turfgrass Seed 2025; Beacon is not far behind in the #2 position. In the GEVES Turfgrass List (Fig. 2; independent trials in several European countries), Beaconis #1-ranked for hard and sheep’s fescue for a range of traits, including Lawn Index, Global Aesthetics, Shoot Density, Wear Tolerance and Red Thread Tolerance. The introduction of these two new cultivars cements SGT Fine Fescue in its market-leading position for overseeding links and heathland fairways. Figure3 - 2015-2019 NTEP Fine fescue trials; all data, all locations. Figure4–Photograph of reduced pest activity in areas of hard fescue turf cover.
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