Research Accomplishment Reports 2008

Turfgrass Management Practices in Kentucky

D. W. Williams, A. J.Powell
Department of Plant and Soil Sciences

 

Non-Technical Summary

Nearly one million acres are devoted to turf in Kentucky (1). Turfgrass maintenance in Kentucky is a multi-million dollar industry, and is a multi-billion dollar industry nation-wide (1). Two factors drive the objectives of this work. Firstly, there is an international movement towards reducing pesticide use in all crops including turf (2). Not only would this reduce the amount of pesticides in the environment, but would also reduce the cost of turf management. Secondly, plant breeding efforts have produced very large gains in desirable turfgrass characteristics (3).

Despite desirable qualities, new cultivars may also have undesirable traits (e.g., disease susceptibility). Turf managers need local information on the large number of turfgrass cultivars being developed. Research should focus on exploiting desirable features of improved cultivars while managing any undesirable traits in a cost- and time-efficient manner and at the same time, reducing the environmental impacts of turfgrass culture.

Even though the majority of turf acreage is in home and commercial lawns, golf courses and sod producers spend far more dollars per unit area than do managers of other turf categories (1). For this reason, research is often focused on key issues from these higher-level maintenance enterprises. It is possible and desirable to apply research results from high maintenance turf to lower maintenance operations as well. But, lower maintenance areas such as highway rights-of-way constitute a large proportion of total acreage and have unique research needs. Turfgrass research at the University of Kentucky should address problems encountered by a wide range of turfgrass managers. This research will be both basic and applied.

There are many unanswered questions concerning problems that have existed for decades in turf management. There are also other, somewhat new turf management principles that must be explored. An example would be the use of seeded warm season grasses as opposed to traditional vegetative propagation. With continual increases in the release of improved turfgrass cultivars, our research program should provide evaluations of cultivar adaptation and performance in Kentucky. Additionally, new herbicides, fungicides and insecticides should be tested for efficacy in Kentucky.

2008 Project Description

Results from our work are regularly posted on the University of Kentucky turfgrass science website to provide immediate and unrestricted access by turfgrass managers regardless of location. Further, we provide a research update to an audience of approximately 250-300 turfgrass managers in Kentucky each autumn during the annual Kentucky Turfgrass Council Conference. We administer and provide an annual research field day at the UK Agricultural Experiment Station with an average attendance of 250-300 practitioners and other turfgrass scientists. We conduct an annual turf and landscape management short course in Louisville, KY attended by 800-900 practitioners where current best management practices and other research results are presented.management practices and other research results are presented.

2008 Impact

Research activities in turfgrass science focus mainly on solving applied problems for turfgrass managers throughout the transitional climatic zone. Recent advances resulting from our program are basically within three areas

i) evaluation of new herbicide chemistries for use on turf;

ii) genetic improvement, management, and expanded uses of seeded warm season species;

iii) work on the resistance of creeping bentgrass golf turf to the fungal disease dollar spot.

Our research on herbicides will likely contribute to label changes for use of new chemistries on turfgrasses. These new chemistries exhibit low mammalian toxicity and are applied at very low rates combined with very high levels of weed control. Additionally, the potential to remove one turfgrass species from another will be possible with these new products. We are evaluating hundreds of lines of seeded bermudagrasses for tolerance to cold temperature stress in Kentucky. These studies will contribute to increased winter-hardiness of all bermudagrasses.

Additional studies with bermudagrasses will result in more cost effective establishment and renovation of athletic fields, while sometimes actually improving safety and playability for young athletes. Work on dollar spot of creeping bentgrass is a cooperative effort with Rutgers University.

We are working to identify plant-generated defense compounds in dollar spot resistant clones of bentgrass. If successful, the amount of fungicides needed to successfully manage bentgrass golf turf could be drastically reduced. This will not only reduce the cost of managing bentgrass, but will also reduce the environmental impact of current disease control strategies.

2008 Publications

Vincelli, P., Dixon, E., Williams, D. and Burrus, P. 2008. Influence of fungicide spray programs on turf quality in a mixed creeping bentgrass/Poa annua soil-based green, 2007. Plant Disease Management Reports, 2:T023

Vincelli, P., Dixon, E., Williams, D. and Burrus, P. 2008. Efficacy of fungicides for control of dollar spot in a mixed creeping bentgrass/Poa annua soil-based green, 2007. Plant Disease Management Reports, 2:T022

Vincelli, P., Dixon, E., Williams, D. and Burrus, P. 2008. Efficacy of fungicides for control of dollar spot of creeping bentgrass on a sand-based green, 2007. Plant Disease Management Reports, 2:T021

Vincelli, P., Dixon, E., Williams, D. and Burrus, P. 2008. Efficacy of fungicides for control of brown patch of creeping bentgrass on a sand-based green, 2007. Plant Disease Management Reports, 2:T020.