For more than 60 years, scientists with the University of Georgia have worked to provide new turfgrass cultivars to the world.  The warm-season turfgrass breeding program began in the 1950's and continues today with programs focused on the development of sustainable bermudagrass, centipedegrass, zoysiagrass and seashore paspalum cultivars.

UGA-bred seashore paspalum covers golf courses along the world's coastlines.  This species slowly grew into a popular member of the UGA turfgrass family.  Tried and true Tif-varieties, like TifGrand, cover golf courses and sports fields across the nation and the globe.  UGA's grasses have been used at some of the worlds most popular sports venues like the Olympics and the World Cup.

Turfgrass researchers at UGA continue to develop and evaluate new turfgrasses in search of cultivars that require fewer inputs and are more disease and pest tolerant.  The UGA Turfgrass Team focuses on drought tolerance, among other traits, and some promising lines have already been Identified.

For more information on our turfgrass breeding programs, please contact:


Paul L. Raymer Professor
Crop & Soil Sciences Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics (IPBGG)
Brian M Schwartz Professor
Crop & Soil Sciences National Environmentally Sound Production Agriculture Laboratory (NESPAL) Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics (IPBGG)