The objective of this work was to evaluate the efficiency of doses and application intervals of trinexapac-ethyl on the vegetative growth and flowering of bahiagrass, to reduce clips and improve lawn quality. The experiment was conducted on the campus of the Federal University of Viçosa, in Viçosa-MG - Brazil, from December 1998 to March 1999, in an established lawn. The experiment was arranged in a randomized complete block design, with 13 treatments and four repetitions, distributed in a factorial scheme (6 x 2 + 1), with six doses of trinexapac-ethyl (0.00; 0.25; 0.50; 0.75; 1.00 and 1.25 kg ha-1), applied two and five days after lawn clipping and a control with clipings every three weeks. Evaluations were made at three, six, nine and twelve weeks after clipping for total dry biomass production, and height and number of seedheads. For all the characteristics studied, a direct relationship was verified between the growth regulator trinexapax-ethyl dose increase and the timing of clipping of vegetative and flowering lawn growth. Thus, lawn clipings were avoided for up to 12 weeks by applying 0.75 kg ha-1 of the growth regulator. No application time or trinexapac-ethyl dose effects were observed on the coloration of the lawn.
Lawn; Paspalum notatum; lawn clippings; phytotoxicity; growth regulator
