EXCITING NEW BUFFALO GRASS COMING 2026
After 6 years of trials both here and in the US, LSA is pleased to announce we have selected a new buffalo grass for release to the Australian market – Introducing Stampede Hybrid Buffalo.
Stampede Hybrid Buffalo is an interploid hybrid St. Augustinegrass (buffalograss; Stenotaphrum secundatum (Walt.) Kuntze). 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).
During trials, while cultivar performance varied across different sites, one consistently outperformed the rest, excelling in all key areas. Stampede Hybrid Buffalo Grass proved to be the best-performing cultivar during winter in some very cold and harsh environments, which is a crucial factor for many turf producers. Remarkably, Stampede remained unaffected by disease during the humid summer, whereas most other buffalo cultivars were impacted. Additionally, it boasted an impressive appearance and excellent harvest quality.
The next step in releasing this new grass to the market has involved stock expansion. When a new variety enters Australia through quarantine, we receive only a few runners of plant material to expand from for testing.
This year, LSA has set up propagation facilities for planting stock to be available to LSA foundation farms to expand and make the grass available for each member for planting. All the grass material supplied to LSA Members throughout this process has been expanded from these few pieces of trial stock that came through quarantine in 2022.
LSA engaged the services of the Australian Genetic Assurance Program (AusGAP) to monitor and enact protocols to ensure the purity of this selected variety every step of the way. As you can imagine, the process of creating a supply of a new variety of grass is slow and tedious, but it is pertinent to ensure the purity of the grass so that it performs as it has throughout trials.
Supply of this exciting new buffalo grass is anticipated to be achieved for release to consumers in many areas throughout Australia in 2026.
More information about this exciting new variety can be read here.
