TURFGRASS SYSTEMS DESIGNED FOR REDUCED WATER USE

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: HATCH
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1002049
• Project Start Date: Nov 19, 2013
• Project End Date: Sep 30, 2016
• Program Code: [(N/A)]- (N/A)

Recipient Organization
CORNELL UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
ITHACA,NY 14853

Performing Department
Horticulture

Non Technical Summary
Growing populations in every community in the United States will face different water supply and demand issues. These issues include climate-related differences in water use. Consumers do not always envision water- efficient landscapes to be attractive and aesthetically pleasing. Urban landscapes contribute as much as 20% of the fair market value of a residential property. So, the loss of some landscape elements such as lawns, trees and shrubs because of ill-conceived water restrictions or unmitigated drought could severely depress property values. Turfgrass covers an area three times greater than any other irrigated crop in the United States. Furthermore, urban expansion in the United States is projected to continue its rapid increase. Because turfgrass acreage is likely to increase with urban expansion, demand for water for the irrigation of turfgrass will also increase substantially. One strategy to mitigate irrigation demands for turfgrass is to identify species and cultivars that maintain better quality with less water and management systems designed for low water use.

Animal Health Component

50%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

25%

Applied

50%

Developmental

25%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
102	2130	1070	100%

Knowledge Area
102 - Soil, Plant, Water, Nutrient Relationships;

Subject Of Investigation
2130 - Turf;

Field Of Science
1070 - Ecology;

Keywords

turfgrass

water conservation

tall fescue

climate change

Goals / Objectives
The objectives of this study are to 1) identify cultivars of Tall Fescue and Kentucky bluegrass cultivars used in lawn and sport turf settings that maintain better visual quality with less irrigation, using wilt-based irrigation, 2) implement turf management regimes with and without traffic, under low and moderate mowing and nutritional programs, and incorporating the use of anti-transparent technology to assess turfgrass quality, client satisfaction, and water savings under wilt-based irrigation.

Project Methods
Plots will be established in two locations at the Cornell Turfgrass and Landscape research Center in Ithaca, NY. One set of plots will be established in the Automated Rainfall Exclusion System for Turfgrass Study (ARESTS) to screen 10 tall fescue and 10 Kentucky bluegrass selections identified in breeding efforts at Rutgers University to impose simulated drought conditions.The entries will be sown into the native soil at the site (Arkport fine sandy loam, pH 5.6 to 6.5, organic matter 3 to 5%) in Fall 2013. All entries will be seeded into 3.3 × 3.3-ft plots at recommended rates for the individual species (6 lb/1000 ft2 for tall fescue, and 3lb/1000 ft2 for bluegrasses) and each of the 10 entries will be replicated three times in a randomized complete block design.The trial area will be uniformly wet upon establishing the plots. To ensure that the soil is wet through the rootzone, irrigation is applied in 15-min cycles to prevent ponding or runoff. Drought stress will imposed beginning in June 2014. Digital image analysis will be used to quantify the percent green cover for each plot during the drought stress period. Digital images were obtained using a Nikon Cool-Pix 1000 camera mounted on a stainless steel box. The box is equipped with internal lights for image uniformity. The plots will be photographed three times each week for the duration of the study and the digital images downloaded and analyzed immediately for percentage green cover using Sigma Scan Pro (v. 5.0, SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL).The irrigation requirement for each plot is determined by irrigating individual plots whenever that plot is found to have less than 40% green coverage according to digital image analysis. When an individual plot falls below 40% green coverage, 0.5 inch of water will be applied to that plot to simulate a typical lawn irrigation cycle. The 40% green coverage threshold was chosen to simulate a condition in which the grasses would not experience severe summer dormancy and could quickly recover if natural rainfall occurred.No further water will be applied to the individual plot until percent green turfgrass coverage again fell below 40%. During the "drydown" period plots will be monitored for Dark Green Management programs will include two mowing heights (2" and 4") and two nutritional programs (1 lb. N per annum and 3 lbs N per annum), with and without the application of anti-transparent technology-Civitas. Data collection and monitoring of these plots will be similar to species and cultivar evaluation explained in Objective 1 with image analysis-driven irrigation.

Progress 11/19/13 to 09/30/16

Outputs
Target Audience:Target audiences included professional landscape, golf and sports turf managers as well as consumer do it yourselfers. Changes/Problems:As indicated earlier, winterkill of established area required study to be moved off-site location and objective slightly modified. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Professional development was offered throughout the study with Cornell Cooperative Extension Professionals as well as industry professionals involved in the research. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We held field days and walking tours of the research locations during the study period, published preliminary findings in bulletins, blog posts, podcasts, websites, etc. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Trial established in 2014 was winterkilled from low temperature and heavy snowfall by Spring 2015. This hampered research in 2015 so project was moved to sod farm in Rochester, NY area where soil moisture monitoring occurred under two different species and regular spectral readings were collected. This data is expected to be published in 2017-18 to fulfill first objective. Two turfgrass management systems were implemented and assessed in 2016 in suburban communities on LI that included traditional fertilizer use and irrigation use compared to progressive sensor based irrigation scheduling (65% reduction in water use) with limited fertilizer use (70% reduction in fertilizer use). This study found 85% of clients could not distinguish between the management systems indicating more sustainable approaches should be considered. Expected publication 2017-8.

Publications

• Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: http://nysgolfbmp.cals.cornell.edu/irrigation/
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: http://turf.cals.cornell.edu/resources/turfgrass-species-and-variety-guidelines-for-nys/
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Kreuser, W.C. and F.S. Rossi. 2014. CIvitas increases clipping yield and decreases water use on a cool season turf. App.Turf.Sci. 2014

Progress 10/01/14 to 09/30/15

Outputs
Target Audience:Field days, new publications, and presentations were delivered during the reporting period to golf course superintendents, landscape managers, sports turf managers, grounds managers. In addition, individual conversation with NYS DEC officials and irrigation consultants has driven more audiences to our research and extension resources. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Over 20 presentations were made to professional turfgrass managers during 2015 focused on reduced water use. Field days included reviewing the latest tall fescue and Kentucky bluegrass cultivars for use in reduced water management systems. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Over 20 presentations were made to professional turfgrass managers during 2015 focused on reduced water use. Field days included reviewing thr latest tall fescue and Kentucky bluegrass cultivars for use in reduced water management systems. Also, the new Species and Variety Guidelines iBook was published in 2015. Over 250 downloads have occurred. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Continue to promote reduced water management approaches, including use of Civitas, and more drought tolerant varieties. Additionally, continue outreach programs focused on the use of soil moisture meters for reduced water use.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Tall fescue and Kentucky bluegrass cultivars were identified that offer significant reduction in water use to maintain acceptable quality turf. These varieties have been recommended in our Cornell Species and Variety Guidelines publication. Additionally, we have developed educational demonstrations and presentations on use of soil moisture meters to control irrigation systems. This area needs significantly more research in Northern climates. Finally, the use of Civitas (Petroluem Derived Spray Oil-formerly referred to as anti-transparent) on golf and sports turf has helped many turf professionals to reduce water use further on existing non-drought tolerant turf stands.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Kreuser W. and F. S. Rossi. 2015 The Horticultural Spray Oil, Civitas", Causes Chronic Phytotoxicity on Cool-season Golf Turf. HortScience 50:1217-1224.

Progress 11/19/13 to 09/30/14

Outputs
Target Audience: The early phases of this project are being developed primarily to assist turfgrass professionals and breeders with performance on species and practices that minimizes water use. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? We have reported findings to manufacturer of anti-transparent technology that is leading to further funded research exploring other biological activity. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? We expect to further our observation of species and cultivar differences and more thoroughly integrate the use of anti-transparent with other traditonal turf maintenance practices designed to reduce reliance on irrigation.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? We have begun to identify cultivars of tall fescue and Kentucky bluegrass that can be maintained with less irrigation. Specifically we have found that irrigating tall fescue appears to be successful at levels as low as 30% of daily ET loss. Furthermore, use of anti-transparent technology has led to improved quality under significantly less irrigation independent of species or cultivar. To date the work with this anti-transparent has been the most significant finding.

Publications