Relationship between leaf area index and plant density of Zoysia japonica Steud. under different trimming heights.

Leaf area index of turfgrass is an essential parameter for the study of photosynthesis,evapotranspiration,water utilization efficiency,and greenness index of turfgrass,etc.In order to provide the information on the relationship between leaf area index and evapotranspiration,the effect of plant density on the individual plant leaf area and leaf area index of Zoysia japonica Steud.was studied under three different trimming height levels.The results show that the leaf area of individual plant reduced gradually along with the increasing of plant density under the different trimming heights,and the reducing rate of low-density was notably higher than that of high-density.Along with the increase of plant density,the leaf area index of Z.japonica increased and showed very significant difference among the treatments(P0.05) with a peak at 140 no.·100 cm-2 and decline at 145 no.·100 cm-2.The trimming height had significantly effect on the leaf area of individual plant and leaf area index of Z.japonica(P0.01).The leaf area of individual plant and leaf area index of Z.japonica under high-trimming height was higher than that under low-trimming height,especially in the high plant density range of 115 to 145 no.·100 cm-2.