ROOTED IN RESEARCH
NC STATE UNIVERSITY 2017 TURFGRASS RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM RECAP
By Casey Reynolds, PhD
Te 2nd annual North Carolina State University Turfgrass Research Symposium titled “Turf Trends for Changing Times” was held on December 14, 2017, at the NC State University Club in Raleigh, NC. Over 130 people attended this event in person and another 120 attended live from all over the world via live streaming. Te event included a notable set of speakers from the turfgrass industry and academic world, several of which are TPI members. Tis edition of Rooted in Research is devoted to a recap of what was covered and how it may impact TPI members.
Developing the Next Generation of
Enhanced Turfgrasses Te program was led off by Bob Harriman, PhD, vice president of Te Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, with a presentation on “Developing the Next Generation of Enhanced Turfgrasses.” Tis presentation shared some of the key milestones of current Scotts products and the company’s vision for developing next generation enhanced turfgrasses.
Turfgrasses play an important role in maintaining a healthy environment and enriching our lives. While advances in breeding and cultural practices are continuously increasing the positive environmental impact of turf, biotechnology has the potential to dramatically enhance our ability to maintain healthy turfgrass with even fewer inputs.
Biotechnology can provide breeders with the means to help solve turfgrass management problems that have not, and probably will not, be solved by conventional breeding. Some improved features and benefits potentially available through biotechnology include: herbicide resistance for weed control with an environmentally benign herbicide, reduced vertical growth to decrease the frequency of mowing, broad-spectrum disease tolerance to reduce the
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need for fungicides, improved heat or cold hardiness to decrease loss of turf due to winter or summer stress, and increased drought tolerance or water use efficiency to reduce dependence on potable water sources.
Scotts has led many innovations in breeding, seed production and turfgrass maintenance and is adding another innovation to that legacy with Enhanced Turfgrass Quality (ETQ) turfgrasses. Dr. Harriman states that ETQ products should be able to deliver superior quality while requiring fewer inputs from mowing, fertilization and herbicides.
“Product development is not an easy task. Predicting what consumers want now and in the future is difficult and navigating the regulatory world to develop and deliver these products is tricky.”
– Bob Harriman, PhD, Vice President of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company
Plant Protection Products— What Does the Future Hold? Dr. Renee Keese, biology project leader, research and development, at BASF, then discussed “Plant Protection Products—What Does the Future Hold?” Tis topic focused on the many challenges that are present in bringing a new product to market—including the time and resources required to do so.
By 2050, the world’s population is expected to hit almost 10 billion people, and 70 percent of our population will be living in urban areas. Tis means more energy and food will be needed to sustain that population, and it will likely be produced by an increasingly smaller number of farmers.
TPI Turf News March/April 2018
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