ROOTED IN RESEARCH
INTERNATIONAL TURFGRASS RESEARCH CONFERENCE UPDATES
By Casey Reynolds, PhD
“Rooted in Research” is a new addition to Turf News that is designed to highlight turfgrass research that impacts producers and their clients. “Rooted in Research” was chosen to illustrate our members’ commitment to scientifically-based and environmentally-responsible management practices based on proven research. In each issue we will be focusing on a particular area of turfgrass science, recent research findings, current grant proposals, or other news of interest.
Te inaugural edition of this new section is devoted to updates from the International Turfgrass Research Conference (ITRC) which was held in New Brunswick, NJ, from July 16 to 21. Over 450 university, industry, and allied association personnel attended this event where research impacting the turfgrass industry was presented from over 30 U.S. states and 26 countries. Research areas of interest that were presented included: climate, plant health and physiology, management, planting practices, pest control, nutrient fate, plant breeding, stress tolerance, sports field drainage, new technologies, market trends, consumer preferences, and more. While it would be impossible to include them all, a few brief highlights of the conference sessions that I was able to attend are listed here.
16 Turfgrass and Climate Change
“Increased variability in precipitation during the summer months will continue to occur and so will the number of extreme events”
– Dr. Jerry Hatfield, USDA-ARS,
National Lab for Agriculture and the Environment
Te effects of increased temperatures, more variable precipitation, and increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have been well-documented for grain crops, pastures, and rangeland plant species but information on turfgrasses is limited. While climate change is often discussed as a whole, there are vast differences in increasing temperatures resulting from urban heat islands as opposed to rural areas. Daily minimum temperatures have increased more than daily maximums and this impacts the relationship between plant photosynthesis and respiration, the migration of warm-season turfgrasses further north, longer and more frequent insect outbreaks, and other variables. Turfgrasses can play a positive role, especially in urban areas where they mitigate heat increases, protect watersheds by capturing stormflow, and sequester atmospheric carbon dioxide. Adequate soil preparation will be a key tool moving forward in allowing turfgrasses to capture and store periodic rainfall, especially during extreme events.
Consumer Preferences for Information Choices
“As people get older, they trust their families less” – Dr. Chengyan Yue, University of Minnesota
Te speaker in the afternoon session of Microbiomes and Information Science did not intend to get this response but was interrupted with laughter when making that comment while discussing the results of a survey of 2,167 homeowners. Te objectives of this research were to determine where consumers go to receive lawn care information, who they consider trustworthy, and what information they find useful. Researchers evaluated data from
TPI Turf News September/October 2017
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