ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews a number of aspects of grass growth and physiology that contribute to the special ability this botanical group provides as a turf surface for a wide variety of cool and warm season habitats. Particularly relevant to the success of turfgrass is the continuous nature of leaf, tiller, rhizome and stolen development, and their ability to adapt both morphologically and physiologically to close and frequent defoliation and to maintain a low, high density, green sward under such conditions. The chapter discusses an important physiological attributes such as the Grasse's relationship to mowing, fertilising and aeration. Carbohydrates are non-structural materials that are stored in various plant tissues of perennial grasses and utilised in respiration and for the maintenance and growth of plant tissues. Winter nitrogen applications can sometimes cause winter injury of warm-season species in transition zones, and late autumn nitrogen applications may encourage the encroachment of foreign grasses and weeds; all factors that competes with turfgrass growth.
