Objectives and Deliverables Te objectives of this trial are the following:
1. Determine the 100-150-day, summer water use of cool- season and warm-season turfgrass species and cultivars. We now have three years of data from all ten cool-season sites, therefore that trial is complete. We have two years of data from the warm-season trial, collecting the final year of data in 2022. We have seen large differences among some entries, with overall greater statistical significance in the warm-season data as compared to the cool-season grass entries.
2. Determine turfgrass recovery of grasses after 30 days and 60 days without water. Recovery has been measured, but as stated in question 1 above, not as much statistical significance with the cool- season grasses has been noted at some sites. Te warm- season trial is providing much greater significance and excellent water use rates.
3. Determine the percent ET replacement required by each entry to maintain a prescribed level of green or quality. Similar to question 1, for cool-season grasses, we have three years of data from all ten sites. One thing we can say is that all sites are not created equal, for example, the lowest (40 percent) and medium (60 percent) ET replacement did not deliver any acceptable entries at Riverside, CA, which means more breeding is needed for these grasses to be used with less water at an environment such as Riverside. At other sites, such as Las Cruces, NM, 60 percent ETo
did
show some entries with acceptable performance, probably because some summer rains occur there. Te warm-season grass trial has delivered similar results, and in some cases surprising ones. Te Ft. Lauderdale, FL, site has shown that the lowest ETo
adequate for many warm-season grasses. Tis differs from the Riverside, CA, site where ETo
effect on performance. Call for Research Proposals
Te Lawn Institute will continue to release its annual Call for Research Proposals each August and work hard to fund research that is impactful to TPI members. If you have questions or comments about this process; or about specific research interests, please contact Dr. Casey Reynolds at
creynolds@TurfGrassSod.org.
replacement level (30 percent) is often level has a significant
4. Develop requirements for water use and drought tolerance/recovery to be certified as a low-water use turfgrass. See answer to questions 1 and 3…we need three years of data to make determinations.
5. Work with U.S. EPA WaterSense or another organization to develop and apply a national water saving certification to qualified turfgrasses. We are in contact with the WaterSense office, but since EPA has been struggling with funding, it has been impossible for WaterSense to move forward with turfgrass certification. However, we did help and support Congressional authorization of WaterSense, which passed in 2020. Authorization helps protect the WaterSense program from elimination while also allowing EPA to request separate WaterSense funding in their budget requests (they have never had a separate budget line item for WaterSense, which has restricted the program’s growth). We feel that eventually, a WaterSense turfgrass certification program may be possible.
We are working now with the Metro North Georgia Water Planning District about a potential turfgrass water-conserving recommendation program for their region, based on NTEP data. Tis program, if implemented, could be a pilot program for a national WaterSense certification program.
As a follow-up to these trials, we have secured USGA funding for a new cool-season grass water use trial, to be planted at six locations in 2022. Tis trial will focus on bentgrasses, fineleaf fescues, and other species for fairway use, using similar approaches and with similar goals: that is to measure water needed to maintain a prescribed level of green cover, as well as performance under various replacement ETo
levels.
Casey Reynolds, PhD, is executive director of Turfgrass Producers International.
All photos and graphics for this article have been supplied by the research team of the research project in which they appear.
TPI Turf News September/October 2022 33
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84
