Stampede Hybrid Buffalo Grass (TAES 6756-29)
Stenotaphrum secundatum is a naturalised turfgrass species in the U.S. and Australia. Having many aliases, St. Augustinegrass and buffalograss are the most common names where it is cultivated as a turfgrass.
Stampede Hybrid Buffalo is an interploid hybrid St. Augustinegrass (buffalograss; Stenotaphrum secundatum). It was developed using embryo rescue technology through controlled pairwise crossing between a polyploid buffalograss (chromosome number: 2n = 2x = 30) and a diploid buffalograss (chromosome number: 2n = 2x = 18).
Turf producers seek cultivars with strong tensile strength and re-growth characteristics. Meanwhile, end-users are looking for traits such as dark green genetic colour and extended seasonal growth and sustained green cover (early spring emergence and late autumn dormancy).
Combining all target traits into a single hybrid cultivar is a challenging task.
Embryo rescue technology is one method that has been shown to overcome sterility barriers and develop improved interploid (polyploid and diploid) cultivars of St. Augustine grass.
Stampede Origin and Breeding History
St. Augustine Crosses were made at Texas A&M AgriLife Research-Dallas in 2016
Progeny from this hybridisation effort were recovered via embryo rescue technology. This pedigree produced 51 intraspecific progeny (TAES 6756-1, 2, …51) which were part of a population of 948 genotypes planted in a Dallas space plant nursery in 2017 with parental lines and cultivars.
Performance in multiple environments – After two years of field evaluation in Dallas, ‘TAES 6756-29’ emerged as one of 30 best performing genotypes.
These hybrids were advanced for further evaluation as part of the 2020 Specialty Crop Research Initiative across six locations (Riverside, CA; Dallas, TX; Griffin, GA; Tifton, GA; Citra, FL; Jackson Springs, NC) which were evaluated for three years (2020-2023) with commercially available cultivars included for comparison.
In 2022, TAES 6756-29 was one of 15 experimental lines and two cultivars tested in a replicated field trial at Lawn Solutions Australia in Jaspers Brush, NSW, Australia. Due to it’s performance across environments, TAES 6756-29 was given the elite experimental name ‘DALSA 2123’.
This cultivar was selected out of these Australian trials for expansion, with propagation and harvesting trials conducted to ensure it could be produced on a large scale. Trial material was also planted and observed in various Australian climates.
Overall, this cultivar now named named Stampede Hybrid Buffalo, exhibited strong drought tolerance, improved winter colour, darker genetic colour, increased disease resistance to grey leaf spot and spring yellowing.
Stampede also showed strong tensile strength and re-growth characteristics, traits that show significant wear tolerance and recovery, but also make it suitable for turf production.
After many years, we have managed to find a cultivar with the combination of target traits we were looking for, and we are so excited to share it with you all in 2026.
