Source: UNIV OF MINNESOTA submitted to
INCREASING LOW-INPUT TURFGRASS ADOPTION THROUGH BREEDING, INNOVATION, AND PUBLIC EDUCATION
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
TERMINATED
Funding Source
OTHER GRANTS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1013078
Grant No.
2017-51181-27222
Project No.
MIN-21-G11
Proposal No.
2017-03196
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Program Code
SCRI
Project Start Date
Sep 1, 2017
Project End Date
Aug 31, 2022
Grant Year
2017
Project Director
Watkins, E.
Recipient Organization
UNIV OF MINNESOTA
(N/A)
ST PAUL,MN 55108
Performing Department
Horticultural Science
Non Technical Summary
The public desires lower-input turfgrasses that provide functional turf areas while reducing inputs of water, fertilizer, mowing, and pesticides. We propose that the fine fescues, an important group of grasses well-suited to low-input environments, should be able to provide these types of turf areas. Surveys of consumer and public land managers suggests that having knowledge about the positive benefits of fine fescues is not enough to increase adoption. The long-term goal of this project is to increase the use of well-adapted fine fescue cultivars in sustainable landscapes. In our first objective, we will survey consumers, land managers, and seed producers to identify the barriers preventing them from using fine fescues. In the second objective, we will lead a sustained effort of cultivar development focused on improving important traits utilizing new molecular technologies and proven breeding approaches. The third objective will generate new knowledge about complex interactions between turfgrass genetics and management. Our approach in the fourth objective will use 30 years of publically available data in an innovative way to improve consumer turfgrass purchasing decisions for improved fine fescue cultivars. Our fifth objective will identify solutions to several turfgrass management barriers that are preventing stakeholders from seeding fine fescues in landscapes and seed producers from growing this specialty crop. Finally, and most importantly, our sixth objective will deliver research-based information to consumers, seed producers, and land managers using new and innovative outreach methods. We will use plant breeding to improve low-input characteristics and increase the production and profitability of this specialty crop over the long-term.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
40%
Applied
40%
Developmental
20%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
2012130108155%
9032130106015%
6032130301015%
2052130114015%
Knowledge Area
603 - Market Economics; 205 - Plant Management Systems; 201 - Plant Genome, Genetics, and Genetic Mechanisms; 903 - Communication, Education, and Information Delivery;

Subject Of Investigation
2130 - Turf;

Field Of Science
1060 - Biology (whole systems); 1081 - Breeding; 3010 - Economics; 1140 - Weed science;
Goals / Objectives
The long-term goal of this project is to increase the use of well-adapted fine fescue cultivars in sustainable landscapes. In our first objective, we will survey consumers, land managers, and seed producers to identify the barriers preventing them from using fine fescues. In the second objective, we will lead a sustained effort of cultivar development focused on improving important traits utilizing new molecular technologies and proven breeding approaches. The third objective will generate new knowledge about complex interactions between turfgrass genetics and management. Our approach in the fourth objective will use 30 years of publically available data in an innovative way to improve consumer turfgrass purchasing decisions for improved fine fescue cultivars. Our fifth objective will identify solutions to several turfgrass management barriers that are preventing stakeholders from seeding fine fescues in landscapes and seed producers from growing this specialty crop. Finally, and most importantly, our sixth objective will deliver research-based information to consumers, seed producers, and land managers using new and innovative outreach methods. We will use plant breeding to improve low-input characteristics and increase the production and profitability of this specialty crop over the long-term. Output of this research will include new tools for consumers to use when making grass seed purchasing decisions, new turfgrass seed cultivars with improved low-input adaptation, new knowledge about the stress tolerance of fine fescues, new tools for public and private plant breeders to use when selecting fine fescues
Project Methods
Unique aspects of our proposal include the use of multiple public demonstration sites as opportunities to learn about the potential barriers faced by land managers and homeowners when converting to fine fescue lawns. We will then use this information to design research studies that can then provide new knowledge to stakeholders looking for solutions to the problem of lawn conversion. We will be using a new approach to seed selection with a location based web application that can assist stakeholders when they are making grass seed purchasing decisions. This is a novel approach that utilizes decades of data that has been generated by turfgrass research programs across the country. Finally, we will utilize modern genomic tools to help improve fine fescue cultivars for important traits that are needed in low-input environments. Our outreach team will disseminate To assess the impact of our efforts, we will survey users about the effectiveness of the outreach publications and videos developed. The effectiveness of our communication efforts will be assessed through traditional electronic surveys as well as new survey tools such as Twitter surveys. Our products and efforts will be modified as needed to enhance impact based on user feedback. We anticipate surveying the same people targeted in Objective 1 to identify barriers to the adoption of low-input fine fescues as well as users of our web and social media platforms. Survey work will target potential changes in attitude or behaviors. For example, we can ask consumers if their confidence about successfully renovating their lawn to low-input species increased after reading our publication or if their opinion on the cost of a lawn conversion changed after considering long-term water, fuel, fertilizer, and labor savings outlined in our publications. Other surveys will target changes in the management behaviors of users.

Progress 09/01/17 to 08/31/22

Outputs
Target Audience: Nothing Reported Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?A number of graduate students and postdoctoral associates were mentored by faculty throughout this project. These scholars contributed through reporting, manuscript writing, mentoring and training of undergraduate students, and input on research objectives and methodogy. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Research from this project has been presented to multiple audiences through field days, seminars, talks at professional meetings, magazines, scientific journal articles, academic presentaitons, blog posts, Extension publications, and podcasts. In Minnesota, field plot research has been used to communicate science to non-specialists, including high school students from local high schools. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Objective 1: Identifying barriers for homeowners and public land managers We identified land manager perceptions of low-input turf in New Jersey, Minnesota, and Oregon, and elicited research team and advisory board responses to public land manager concerns refined in online outreach summaries. Second, we interviewed land managers regarding vegetation transitions and presented findings at two professional societies. Finally, we investigated how homeowners' sustainability practices work to overcome barriers and evaluate trade-offs for distinct lawn benefits. To leverage our efforts we extended the homeowner and policy research with MSP NSF LTER funding, an analysis of urban nature ordinances for 31 municipalities and planned a Bell Museum of Natural History exhibit with a visitor survey that is investigating how museum visitors view different low-input lawn types. We have developed a behavioral framework to identify barriers to consumer low-input turfgrass adoption by incorporating both prospect theory and present bias. We applied this framework in a choice experiment, with more than 800 participants, to investigate the relative importance of several factors that shape decisions associated with adoption of low-input turfgrass. We found that household loss-aversion plays a significant role in reducing adoption. Though consumers exhibit present bias, long-term benefits (less water use, etc.) still matter to them. Insights from the behavior model suggest that marketing and government programs that promote low-mput turgrasses should focus on eliminating or reducing potential losses caused by product failure. We also conducted interviews and online surveys with turfgrass seed growers in Oregon and Minnesota to investigate the barriers that prevent them from growing low-input turfgrasses. We find inconsistent profitability of fine fescue grass seed species, inability to field burn, and the lack of seed contracts are the major barriers for grower adoption. Objective 2: Breeding and Genetics A hard fescue panel consisting of 240 genotypes was used for multiple stress responses evaluations. First, we utilized photoselective filter methods developed as part of this project in previous years to screen for performance under simulated foliar shade. We also screened the panel for resistance to the snow mold pathogen Typhula ishikariensis and found significant differences in resistance within the panel. Finally, we evaluated the hard fescue panel for heat stress tolerance in a growth chamber study (35oC for 35 days) and found that 57 genotypes ranked in the top statistical group for heat stress tolerance; from this evaluation, we identified two lines contrasting in heat tolerance for the metabolic and molecular mechanisms regulating tolerance and found heat stress tolerance was positively associated with the accumulation of ethyl sterols (fucosterol, stigmasterol, sitosterol and avenasterol), and two fatty acids [oleic acid (18:1) and linoleic acid (18:2)] Those unique genes in the secondary metabolic pathways enriched in only the heat-tolerant cultivar could be critical for mediating the protection of hard fescue against heat stress and are potentially useful as candidate genes or molecular markers for augmenting heat tolerance in other temperate species of grass. A contig-level reference genome assembly was generated for Beacon hard fescue, with associated IsoSeq based cDNA sequencing for annotation. The estimated genome coverage is 96%, including full chloroplast and other non-nuclear sequences. Genome wide association analysis was conducted for shade tolerance and disease resistance using data described above. Three summer patch resistant genotypes and three summer patch susceptible genotypes (S5, S6, S11) of hard fescue, were crossed in a diallel crossing design. We applied Major Gene Indices and found that summer patch resistance in hard fescue has a high potential to be controlled by a few major genes. In 2022, we screened 1675 hard fescue clones from breeding material for summer patch tolerance and selected 103 clones with improved tolerance to the disease. Objective 3: Biology Research to Support Breeding Efforts Breeding and genetics efforts can be improved through greater understanding of the summer patch pathogen. We isolated 72 fungal strains from fine fescue samples with summer patch symptoms collected from multiple states in North America. Based on DNA barcoding and multi-gene phylogenetic analysis, fungal samples were identified as Magnaporthiopsis meyeri-festucae, M. poae and M. cynodontis. Based on the results of this survey, we found that M. meyeri-festucae, the new summer patch pathogen of fine fescue first described in 2017 in New Jersey, was also distributed in Massachusetts and Maryland. Cultures of these pathogens were used to determine pathogenicity. Differentiating between related summer patch causing pathogens is difficult; therefore two culture-independent molecular detection methods were developed, a TaqMan real-time PCR and a recombinase polymerase amplification assay. Objective 4: Information Delivery Our efforts to improve information delivery of low-input cultivar information have provided publicly available resources for the turfgrass community. We analyzed the potential use of advanced spatial data science techniques, spatial hotspot detection, and spatial prediction for enhancing the existing National Turfgrass Evaluation Program database, developed earlier in the project, with new spatial information (i.e., geo-coordinates, elevation, and water accumulation). Experimental evaluation shows that the learning algorithm outperforms conventional machine learning models due to positive spatial autocorrelation among neighboring cultivars. Objective 5: Identifying Solutions Building off of previous work in this grant, we concluded a multi-year study with locations in both West Lafayette, IN and St. Paul, MN that had as its objective to quantify the input levels needed to maintain acceptable quality for a number of cool-season turfgrass species. We found that the fine fescues taxa in the study required 37% fewer inputs than tall fescue, and that new fine fescue cultivars required 21-31% fewer inputs than older cultivars, showing the value of genetic improvement in these grasses. Commonly used species Kentucky bluegrass and perennial ryegrass required up to 50% more inputs than the fine fescues. These results provide solid evidence that the fine fescues can significantly reduce resource inputs on landscapes in temperate climates. In addition to turfgrass management, seed production management research is also a critical need for low-input turfgrasses. Based on seed producers focus group input, four on-farm trials were conducted to evaluate nitrogen by plant growth regulator interactions on seed yield and seed yield components in first year creeping red fescue and Chewings fescue fields in the absence of field burning. We completed the final year of on-farm trials to evaluate seed yield and yield component effects of different nitrogen and plant growth regulator treatments on Chewings and creeping red fescue in the absence of field burning. We also completed a second year of a spring mowing X plant growth regulator trial in Oregon. Seed yield and seed yield components were determined. Statistical analysis has been completed. Objective 6: Quantifying Benefits and Informing the Public Our Extension team developed and published six new publications, which were then adapted by multiple state programs. Social media activity included accounts under the name of "LowInputTurf" across multiple platforms were continued to inform and educate the public via Twitter, Pinterest, and the project blog at lowinputturf.umn.edu. A master PowerPoint presentation was disseminated among Extension collaborators to edit, use, and share with county and regional extension educators.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Chou M.Y., J. Luo, B.B. Clarke, J.A. Murphy, N. Zhang, P. Vines, and P.L. Koch. 2022. Rapid detection of the recently identified turfgrass pathogen Magnaporthiopsis meyeri-festucae using recombinase polymerase amplification. Plant Disease 106:9, 2441-2446. https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-08-21-1732-RE
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2022 Citation: Chengyan Y., M. Cui, E. Watkins and N. Anderson. 2022. Producer preferences and challenges for growing different types of turfgrass seeds. Prepared to publish in an outreach magazine.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2022 Citation: Lai, Y., C. Yue, E. Watkins, A. Patton and R. Braun. 2022. A Behavioral Approach to identify the barriers to the adoption of new technology: A case study of low-input turfgrasses. Revised and resubmitted to Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2022 Citation: Braun, R.C., E. Watkins, A.B. Hollman, and A.J. Patton. 2022. Assessment of fertilizer and pesticide inputs required for low-input cool-season turfgrass systems. Crop Science.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2022 Citation: Braun, R.C. and A.J. Patton. 2022. Quantifying bimodal growth patterns, growth rates, and mowing requirements of cool-season turfgrass species in the cool-humid climatic zone. Crop Sci.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Patton, A. and R. Braun. 2022. How much nitrogen fertilizer do fine fescues need during establishment? https://lowinputturf.umn.edu/how-much-nitrogen-fertilizer-do-fine-fescues-need-during-establishment
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Patton, A. and R. Braun. 2022. Six new fine fescue extension publications now available! https://lowinputturf.umn.edu/six-new-fine-fescue-extension-publications-now-available
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Patton, A.J. and R.C. Braun. 2022. Maintenance calendar for fine fescue lawns. Purdue University, TURF13. https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/TURF-13-W.pdf
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Patton, A.J., R.C. Braun, M. Barnes, K. Nelson, M. Reiter, E. Watkins, A. Kowalewski, P. Koch, and J. Murphy. 2022. Fine fescues: Understanding the differences. Purdue University, University of Minnesota, Oregon State University, University of Wisconsin, Rutgers University, TURF63. https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/TURF-63-W.pdf
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Patton, A.J. and R.C. Braun. 2022. Establishment of fine fescues. Purdue University, TURF64. https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/TURF-64-W.pdf
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Patton, A.J. and R.C. Braun. 2022. Management of fine fescues. Purdue University, TURF65. https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/TURF-65-W.pdf
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Patton, A.J. and R.C. Braun. 2022. Recommended fine fescue cultivars for Indiana turf. Purdue University, TURF66. https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/TURF-66-W.pdf
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Patton, A.J., R.C. Braun, M. Reiter, E. Watkins, A. Kowalewski, P. Koch, and J. Murphy. 2022. Fine fescues in minimal-to-no-mow areas. Purdue University, University of Minnesota, Oregon State University, University of Wisconsin, Rutgers University, TURF67. https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/TURF-67-W.pdf
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Zhang N, and J. Luo. 2022. A monograph of the fungal order Magnaporthales. https://lowinputturf.umn.edu/monograph-fungal-order-magnaporthales
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2022 Citation: Klasic, M., K.C. Nelson, A. Robeson, and F. Fleischman. 2022. Who shapes local governance of nature? A study across Minneapolis-St. Paul. International Association for Society and Natural Resources, July, San Jos�, Costa Rica.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2022 Citation: Klasic, M., K.C. Nelson, A. Robeson, and F. Fleischman. 2022. Governance: Promoting, engaging, and managing urban nature." MSP All Scientists Meeting, June, St. Paul, Minnesota.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2022 Citation: Wu, S., A. Grimshaw, S. Bushman, M. Robbins, J.N. Vaiciunas, J.A. Honig, P.L. Vines, W.A. Meyer, and S.A. Bonos. Genetic mapping of summer patch resistance in the hard fescue R10 X S5 mapping population. In Proceedings of the 31st Rutgers Turfgrass Symposium. March 17, 2022
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2022 Citation: Wu, S., A. Grimshaw, S. Bushman, M. Robbins, J.N. Vaiciunas, J.A. Honig, P.L. Vines, W.A. Meyer, and S.A. Bonos. 2022. Genetic Mapping of Summer Patch Resistance in the Hard Fescue R10 X S5 Mapping Population. In Agronomy Abstracts, ASA, CSSA, SSSA Annual Meeting Nov. 6-9, 2022.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2022 Citation: Wu, S., P.L. Vines, W.A. Meyer, and S.A. Bonos. 2021. Mapping of summer patch resistance in the hard fescue R10 X S5 mapping population. In Agronomy Abstracts, ASA, CSSA, SSSA Annual Meeting Nov. 7-10, 2021
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Petrella, D.P., F. Breuillin-Sessoms and E. Watkins. 2022. Layering contrasting photoselective filters improves the simulation of foliar shade. Plant Methods Vol 18, 16. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13007-022-00844-8
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Anderson, N.P. and B.C. Donovan. 2022. Open-field burning in Oregon fine fescue seed production. https://lowinputturf.umn.edu/open-field-burning-oregon-fine-fescue-seed-production
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Deters, G. and E. Watkins. 2022. Evaluating fine fescues for golf greens in cold climates. https://lowinputturf.umn.edu/evaluating-fine-fescues-golf-greens-cold-climates
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Bushman, S. A reference genome library. 2021. https://lowinputturf.umn.edu/reference-genome-library
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Braithwaite, E. and A. Kowalewski. 2021. Optimum seed date for fine fescue. https://lowinputturf.umn.edu/optimum-seed-date-fine-fescue
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Braithwaite, E. and A. Kowalewski. 2021. Optimum mulching material for fine fescue establishment. https://lowinputturf.umn.edu/optimum-mulching-material-fine-fescue-establishment
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Moncada, K. 2022. New fine fescue resources from UMN Extension. https://turf.umn.edu/new-fine-fescue-resources-umn-extension
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Watkins, E. and K. Moncada. 2022. Planting and maintaining a fine fescue lawn. https://extension.umn.edu/lawns-and-landscapes/planting-and-maintaining-fine-fescue-lawn
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Watkins, E. 2022. A new NTEP database and user interface for cultivar performance data. 14th International Turfgrass Research Conference International Turfgrass Society, Copenhagen, Denmark. July 12, 2022.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Watkins, E. and D. Petrella. 2022. Light effects on turfgrass. Northern Green. Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. January 13, 2022.


Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/21

Outputs
Target Audience:Target audiences include professional turfgrass managers, home lawn care professionals, homeowners, Master Gardeners, and seed producers. These groups have been reached through various means including presentations and online communication. We have also reached a significant scientific audience through peer reviewed publications and research seminars at conferences. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Researchers and postdoctoral associates are mentoring graduate students in methodology used in this project. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Presentations were given at virtual field days at participating institutions. These field days were viewed by our target audience including turfgrass industry professionals (golf course superintendents, public land managers, athletic field managers, parks managers, seed sales people, etc.), as well as homeowners. Research results were also presented at annual conferences. Several research presentations were given at the Crop Science Society of America annual meeting to inform the scientific community about our work. Students in undergraduate courses were also presented with results from this work during lecture and discussion sessions focused on sustainable turfgrass management. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Objective 1: Identifying barriers for homeowners and public land managers An online turfgrass seed producer survey will be distributed and data will be collected and analyzed. We will also explore institutions that serve diverse communities in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area, including churches, health care facilities, schools, and businesses. Many institutions own buildings surrounded by turf areas. Like homeowners, they seek out sustainable practices that match their values for serving people and the environment. Also, institutions are critical nodes in networks with members, clients, and customers coming and going daily. Current scholarship is limited in the ability to speak to practice over time and across economically and ethnically/racially diverse communities. Objective 2: Breeding and genetics A new circular consensus sequencing-based PacBio assembly of hard fescue will be completed along with association analyses. We will perform gene module-trait association analysis to determine potential gene networks or hubs linked to physiological traits of heat tolerance. Team members will finalize the linkage map and mapping of summer patch resistant related Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) in hard fescue. Finally, we will implement larger scale screening of fine fescues for foliar shade tolerance using a layered photoselective filter approach developed as part of this project. Objective 3: Biology research to support breeding efforts We will continue to conduct a snow mold screen of fine fescue plantings in the growth chamber using the fungi Typhula incarnata/ishikariensis. We also plan to use the summer patch assay for pathogen detection and quantification, and continue summer patch pathogen collection, pathogenicity test, and inoculation work. An ongoing study evaluating the effects of soil pH and nitrogen fertilizer source on summer patch incidence in fine fescues will be completed and analyzed. Objective 4: Information delivery We will continue to explore new approaches to analyzing and understanding turfgrass field trials. Elevation data cannot solely support a simple way to directly understand the correlation between the elevation and turfgrass quality ratings. To this end, other newly added spatial information (e.g., flow direction and water accumulation) will allow us to identify depressions within the study area and compare quality ratings according to those depressions. In addition, flow accumulation will reduce the search space to identify cultivars that are sensitive/robust to elevation variation within the experimental site. The new spatial data only cover experimental sites in Minnesota, but we plan to expand this information to additional sites in the program. Objective 5: Identifying solutions A multi-state field experiment on fine fescue turfgrass management concluded in summer 2021 and two more experiments will be concluding in autumn of 2021. Data will be analyzed and a manuscript will be submitted for publication. Objective 6: Quantifying benefits and informing the public A master PowerPoint presentation and videos accompanying the extension publications will be disseminated among collaborators to edit, use, and share with county and regional extension educators for use in consumer and professional education. We will continue to write and post blog articles on our project website <https://lowinputturf.umn.edu/>.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Objective 1: Identifying barriers for homeowners and public land managers The consumer survey data were fully analyzed and used to write two manuscripts, one of which has been published. We also developed a survey that is being distributed to grass seed producers in multiple states. The Objective 1.3 team set up new contacts, theoretical constructs, and extended six-year funding with an NSF Urban LTER in Minnesota. We supported the development of outreach materials and included a yard nutrient management project and a low-input lawn project in the Fall 2021 senior capstone course. Under Dr. Nelson's supervision, two out of ten senior capstone student groups worked with Hopkins, MN planners and land managers on projects that incorporated low-input fine fescue varieties in right-of-way vegetation and bee lawns. Objective 2: Breeding and Genetics A PacBio CLR sequence-based genome was assembled as a reference for final association studies, it is large and cumbersome, and new approaches are needed. Genetic variation of heat tolerance in hard fescue was examined for 240 lines in growth chamber studies at 30/ 25 °C (day/night)) for 35 days. Results showed significant genetic variability in hard fescue for heat tolerance. Progenies of a mapping population were visually rated on a scale of 1 to 10 in the years 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 for the summer patch. Next Generation Sequencing was performed, and the sequence data were analyzed by Stacks to find SNP markers. We obtained 7800 SNPs shared by 90% of samples using the reference genome involved. The genetic markers were put in JoinMap 4.1 and a linkage map with 21 linkage groups was constructed. We also finalized the protocol for transcriptome analysis of summer patch tolerance in hard fescue. Turfgrass breeders in New Jersey screened 3,936 hard fescue clones for summer patch tolerance and selected 150 clones with improved tolerance to the disease. In Minnesota, continued work has refined recommendations for controlled environment shade screening methodology using layered photoselective filters. Objective 3: Biology Research to Support Breeding Efforts Our pathology team initiated a snow mold screening of hard fescue genotypes from public breeding programs and public collections. In New Jersey, project participants isolated 14 fungal strains from seven fine fescue samples exhibiting symptoms of summer patch disease in Massachusetts and New Jersey. Among them, eight isolates were sequenced and identified as Magnaporthiopsis meyeri-festucae, M. poae, and M. incrustans. We also developed a culture-independent, TaqMan real-time PCR assay for M. meyeri-festucae. Objective 4: Information delivery We created and designed a relational database for the national turfgrass evaluation program, namely, NTEP-DB 1.0, and published the work in a peer reviewed journal. NTEP-DB 1.0 reduced manual efforts and required expert knowledge to extract meaningful information. However, the existing NTEP data lacks explicit spatial information (e.g., geo-coordinates, elevation), which hinders the use of advanced spatial data mining techniques such as disease or stress hotspot detection and predicting turf quality ratings. To this end, we leveraged the publicly available Lidar dataset from Minnesota Geospatial Commons to investigate if turf quality ratings could be explained via the elevation information. Elevation data also enabled us to explore additional spatial information, including flow direction and water accumulation in this context. Objective 5: Identifying Solutions Data collection continued or concluded in three field experiments in IN, MN, and OR, with the objectives to determine optimal fertility programs during establishment, quantify maintenance inputs, compare new and old cultivars, and quantify mowing requirements of cool-season turf species. The seed production team focused on data analysis of the two multi-year research projects. Statistical analysis has been completed and manuscript drafts have been written. Data from this work is being used to secure a chlormequat chloride product (Adjust) registration on grasses grown for seed in Oregon, including fine fescues. A third year of data (turf quality, density and color) were collected from two field trials: one trial assessed soil pH and the second trial N fertilizer source effects. Pathogenic isolates of M. poae and M. festuca-meyeri were inoculated into these field trials in June 2021. Objective 6: Quantifying Benefits and Informing the Public Research audiences were reached through numerous peer reviewed publications. Six extension publications were finalized and are in-press. Accounts under the name of "LowInputTurf" across multiple social media platforms continued to inform and educate the public, and earned 112,200 impressions on Twitter and 2,580 impressions on Pinterest during the last reporting period.

Publications

  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Barnes, M. 2020. Working across boundaries: The importance of transdisciplinary turf research https://lowinputturf.umn.edu/working-across-boundaries-importance-transdisciplinary-turf-research
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Braun, R.C., A.J. Patton, E. Watkins, P. Koch, N.P. Anderson, S.A. Bonos, and L.A. Brilman. 2020. Recommended taxonomic classifications of fine fescue taxa used in turfgrass systems. Abstract 128127 of the ASA, CSSA and SSSA International Meetings, online.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Braun, R.C., A.J. Patton, E. Watkins, A.B. Hollman, J.A. Murphy, B.S. Park, A.R. Kowalewski, and E.T. Braithwaite. 2021. Optimal fine fescue mixture seeding dates in the northern United States. Agronomy Journal, 113, 44134428. https://doi.org/10.1002/agj2.20859
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Braun, R.C., A.J. Patton, E.T. Braithwaite, and A.R. Kowalewski. 2020. Establishment of Low-Input Turfgrass from Seed Using Patch and Repair Mixtures: Mulch and Starter Fertilizer Effects. Crop Science. 2020:1-15. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/csc2.20266
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Breuillin Sessoms, F., D.P. Petrella, J.M. Trappe, N.T. Mihelich, A.J. Patton, and E. Watkins. 2021. Field evaluation of weed suppression in fine fescue (Festuca spp.). Crop Science 61(4):2812-2826. https://doi.org/10.1002/csc2.20506
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Chapman C. and B. Huang. 2021. Genotypic variation in heat tolerance and post-stress recovery for hard fescue https://lowinputturf.umn.edu/genotypic-variation-heat-tolerance-and-post-stress-recovery-hard-fescue
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Chen, H., B.S. Park, and J.A. Murphy. 2020. Traffic form and season of wear affect responses of fine fescues. Agron. J. 113:3778-3788. https://doi.org/10.1002/agj2.20563
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Petrella, D.P. and E. Watkins. 2020. Variation in fine fescue taxa response to simulated foliar shade. Crop Science 60(6):3377-3394. https://doi.org/10.1002/csc2.20279
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Qiu, Y., Y. Yang, C.D. Hirsch, and E. Watkins. 2021. Building a reference transcriptome for the hexaploid hard fescue turfgrass (Festuca brevipila) using a combination of PacBio Isoseq and Illumina sequencing. Crop Science 61(4):2798-2811. https://doi.org/10.1002/csc2.20489
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2021 Citation: Chou, MY., Luo, J., Clarke, B.B., Murphy, J.A., Zhang, N., Vines, P.L., Koch, P.L. Rapid detection of the recently identified turfgrass pathogen Magnaportheopsis meyeri-festucae using recombinase polymerase amplification. Submitted to Plant Disease in August, 2021.
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Koch. P. 2021. When it comes to snow mold, fine fescue is the choice https://lowinputturf.umn.edu/when-it-comes-snow-mold-fine-fescue-choice
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Kowalewski, A. and E. Braithwaite. 2021. Fine fescue and the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program https://lowinputturf.umn.edu/fine-fescue-and-national-turfgrass-evaluation-program
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2021 Citation: Lai, Y., C. Yue, E. Watkins, A. Patton and R. Braun. 2021. A Behavioral Approach to Identify Barriers to Adoption of New Technology: A Case Study of Low-input Turfgrasses. Under review by Agricultural Economics.
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Luo, J. and N. Zhang. 2021. Two common summer patch pathogens on fine fescues https://lowinputturf.umn.edu/two-common-summer-patch-pathogens-fine-fescues
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Moncada, K. 2021. Other fine fescue research at the University of Minnesota: Bee lawns https://lowinputturf.umn.edu/other-fine-fescue-research-university-minnesota-bee-lawns
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Wu, D.S., A.L. Grimshaw, H.Y. Qu, P.L. Vines, E. N. Weibel, W.A. Meyer and S.A. Bonos. 2020. Inheritance of summer patch disease resistance in hard fescue. In Agronomy Abstracts, ASA, CSSA, SSSA Annual Meeting Nov. 7-9, 2020 (Virtual Meeting).
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Wu, S., A. L. Grimshaw, Y. Qu, P. L. Vines, E. N. Weibel, W. A. Meyer, and S. A. Bonos. 2021. Inheritance of summer patch disease resistance in hard fescue (Festuca brevipila Tracey). p.46. In Proceedings of the 29th Rutgers Turfgrass Symposium. March 18, 2021 (Virtual Meeting).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2021 Citation: Xie, Y., M. Farhadloo, N. Guo, S. Shekhar, E. Watkins, L. Kne, H. Bao, A. J. Patton, and K. Morris. "NTEP?DB 1.0: A relational database for the national turfgrass evaluation program." International Turfgrass Society Research Journal, Accepted on May 5th, 2021, DOI: 10.1002/its2.76.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2021 Citation: Xu, Y., S. Rossi, and B. Huang. 2021. Comparative transcriptomics and gene network analysis revealed secondary metabolism as preeminent metabolic pathways for heat tolerance in hard fescue. Grass Research (submitted and in review).
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Yue, C., M. Cui, E. Watkins and A. Patton. 2021. What factors influence consumer adoption of low-input turfgrasses? https://lowinputturf.umn.edu/what-factors-influence-consumer-adoption-low-input-turfgrasses
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Yue, C., M. Cui, E. Watkins, and A. Patton. 2021. Investigating Factors Influencing Consumer Adoption of Low-input Turfgrasses. HortScience 56 (10), 1213-1220.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Yue, C., M. Cui, E. Watkins, and A. Patton. 2021. Investigating Factors Impacting Consumer Adoption of Low-Input Turfgrasses. Presentation at American Society of Horticultural Science 2021 annual conference.


Progress 09/01/19 to 08/31/20

Outputs
Target Audience:Target audiences include professional turfgrass managers, home lawn care professionals, homeowners, Master Gardeners, and seed producers. These groups have been reached through various means including presentations and online communication. We have also reached a significant scientific audience through peer reviewed publications and research seminars at conferences. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Researchers and postdoctoral associates are mentoring graduate students in methodology used in this project. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Presentations were given at virtual field days at participating institutions. These field days were viewed by our target audience including turfgrass industry professionals (golf course superintendents, public land managers, athletic field managers, parks managers, seed sales people, etc.), as well as homeowners. Research results were also presented at annual conferences. Several research presentations were given at the Crop Science Society of America annual meeting to inform the scientific community about our work. Students in undergraduate courses were also presented with results from this work during lecture and discussion sessions focused on sustainable turfgrass management. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Objective 1: Identifying barriers for homeowners and public land managers We will explore homeowners who have and plan to confront the complexities of transitioning to more sustainable landscapes. Increasingly, homeowners' sustainability practices create new insights for how they confront barriers and evaluate trade-offs for distinct benefits. We will purposefully survey homeowners across socioeconomic, ethnic, and racial groups to better understand the values and environmental services of low-input, fine fescue turfgrass in comparison to other vegetation options across the urban landscape. Current scholarship is limited in the ability to speak to practice over time and across economically and ethnically/racially diverse homeowners. We are also working on developing a grass seed producer survey draft. Once the draft is developed and finalized, data will be collected to investigate the barriers that prevent growers from growing seed of low-input turfgrasses. Objective 2: Breeding and genetics We will continue genomics research with the completion of a second genome assembly using Canu, which will then be used for a genetic mapping reference. Gene-association mapping will commence for both heat tolerance and snow mold as data become available. In NJ, we will generate a genetic linkage map of hard fescue based on SNP marker data, then conduct QTL analysis on summer patch resistance in hard fescue with linkage and phenotype data from the field. We will also identify transcriptional factors that may explain the genetic variations in heat tolerance between fine fescue cultivars. We will continue breeding work in NJ and MN to screen for important traits such as increased seed production, summer patch tolerance, overall summer performance, and shade tolerance. Objective 3: Biology research to support breeding efforts Pathogenic isolates of Magnaporthiopsis poae and M. festuca-meyeri will be shared with project members and inoculated into hard fescue field plots in two field trials in NJ: one trial to assess soil pH and the second trial N fertilizer source effects on summer patch disease. We will conduct a third growth chamber screen to confirm the pathogenicity of several fungi obtained from declining hard fescue of unknown etiology along with isolates of Magnaporthiopsis poae and M. festuca-meyeri known to be pathogenic to this host. We will continue summer patch pathogen collection, pathogenicity testing, and inoculation work to investigate the interaction between the pathogens and the host fine fescue. Finally, we aim to complete development of the culture-independent molecular detection in order to sensitively detect and quantify summer patch pathogens from the grass host tissue. Objective 4: Information delivery We plan to investigate the possibility of building a spatial database upon the current design, where we can collect spatial data (e.g., geo-coordinates). Spatial information allows the potential use of advanced spatial data science techniques such as spatial pattern mining. Also, we plan to investigate the potential of developing a real-time data collector application that can directly gather information in the field in a digital format and transform it into a database. The current data collection is done in many steps over a long period and there is a long delay to access the most recent data. We will also investigate creating a recommendation system that offers information to both non-technical users (e.g., consumers) as well as technical users (e.g., researchers) on various cultivars that have been tested and have shown promising performance under varying seasonal conditions. This work relies on integrating the existing data with an auxiliary database containing user preferences. Objective 5: Identifying solutions Seed production: We will complete seed cleaning, followed by additional data collection and analysis from all field trials and then begin manuscript preparation. Turfgrass Management: An additional experiment investigating optimal nitrogen fertility programs for fine fescues during establishment concluded in 2020 and is being repeated in IN and OR in fall 2020. We will publish papers on the field experiments involving optimal seeding timing and quantifying mowing requirements, continue to coordinate field research at three collaborator sites, and collect and analyze data on three current field experiments in Indiana. Objective 6: Quantifying benefits and informing the public A master PowerPoint presentation and extension publications on fine fescues will be disseminated among collaborators to edit, use, and share with county and regional extension educators for use in consumer and professional education. Our team will continue publishing extension bulletins and articles related to the fine fescue project, and research trials being conducted as part of this project. We will continue to write and post blog articles on our project website <https://lowinputturf.umn.edu/>. We anticipate adding 25 new articles over the next project period. We will tweet out links to these articles on our project Twitter account @LowInputTurf that has over 400 followers. We expect both the number of pageviews and Twitter impressions to increase over the next project period.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Objective 1: Identifying barriers for homeowners and public land managers Our team completed data analysis for six focus group discussions with public land managers in IN, OR, and NJ related to fine fescue implementation. In addition, we initiated and completed a large national survey of consumers; the choice experiment investigated the major barriers that prevent homeowners from purchasing low-input grasses. Data analysis and reporting is ongoing. Objective 2: Breeding and genetics We continued to focus on traits known to be important for successful performance of cool-season low-input turfgrasses. In Minnesota, methods were developed for screening fine fescues under conditions that mimic reductions in light quality common under vegetative shade; these methods will be used to screen breeding material from both public and private breeding programs. In NJ, we found that summer patch in hard fescue is likely controlled by a small number of genes with moderate heritability (0.67 +/- 0.01) from a diallel crossing scheme with three tolerant and three susceptible genotypes. One of the tolerant parents (R7) had a significant negative breeding value. ddRADseq was performed on a mapping population segregating for summer patch resistance. SNP data was analyzed with STACKS and aligned to the reference genome. 7800 SNPs were shared by 90% of the progeny. 200 populations (1000 genoytpes) were inoculated with Magnaporthae poae and meyeri-festucae. Several hundred clones have been identified with improved summer patch tolerance. Also in NJ, we identified physiological traits, metabolic processes, and molecular factors associated with heat tolerance stress in fine fescue. A completed bioinformatic analysis of transcriptomic data was completed and writing the manuscript from the analysis. A number of genes involved in secondary metabolism linked to heat tolerance in hard fescue have been identified. Our USDA-ARS team completed a hard fescue genome assembly using the Mecat assembler, and a second assembly using Canu is underway. There were so many PacBio CLR reads (over 600Gb) that the assemblers struggled to not crash. In the end we filtered out shorter reads and self corrected with 50% of the longest reads in order to even run the assemblers. A 240 genotype diverse hard fescue panel has been propagated and will be used for future marker-trait association studies including those focused on heat stress and snow mold resistance. Objective 3: Biology research to support breeding efforts Our team continued to investigate solutions to reduce the impact of summer patch disease. In 2020, we isolated a total of 16 fungal strains from the roots of three fine fescue samples inoculated with summer patch pathogens Magnaporthiopsis poae and M. meyeri-festucae in Adelphia, NJ. Based on the fungal DNA barcode (ITS region) sequences, all 16 isolates were identified as M. poae. The presence of M. poae in the plant tissue was confirmed with a real-time PCR assay. In order to sensitively detect and quantify M. meyeri-festucae from grass tissue, our team in Wisconsin developed a recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) assay to detect Magnaporthiopsis meyeri-festucae on fine fescue roots and verified it with traditional PCR. The RPA and PCR results came in parallel and showed that the primer set designed specifically produced amplicon at targeted size (304b) from all three strains of Magnaporthiopsis meyeri-festucae but not any other Magnaporthiopsis species and strains. The RPA assay was also tested for root extracts instead of DNA extracted from cultured pathogens which specifically detected the roots infected with Magnaporthiopsis meyeri-festucae visualized using SYBR-safe under UV-light. Objective 4: Information delivery Through multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral work, we created and designed the first version of the NTEP database - NTEP-DB 1.0 - to reduce the manual efforts and required expert knowledge, which is currently needed to extract meaningful information from the data. Based on Objective 4.3, we validated the design through the implementation of a database using PostgreSQL, one of the most popular open-source platforms for relational databases. The experiments showed that the outputs are correct and the database is flexible in answering various types of user queries ranging from non-technical type query (e.g., query by consumers) to ad-hoc and technical query (e.g., query by researchers). To further improve the convenience of the user queries, we have developed a web-application allowing homeowners to find the most suitable cultivar with a few clicks. Objective 5: Identifying solutions Seed production: We completed the final year (year 3) of on-farm trials in the Silverton Hills to evaluate seed yield and yield component effects of different nitrogen (N) and plant growth regulator (PGR) treatments on Chewings and creeping red fescue in the absence of field burning. We also completed a second year of a spring mowing X plant growth regulator trial at Oregon State University Hyslop Research Farm. There are two spring mowing treatments and four PGR treatments on both Chewings and creeping red fescues. Seed yield and seed yield components were determined. Turf management: We concluded or continued data collection in four field experiments in IN, MN, OR, and NJ with the objectives to determine optimal seeding time of the year, optimal fertility programs during establishment, quantify maintenance inputs, compare new and old cultivars, and quantify mowing requirements of cool-season turf species. A second year of data (turf quality, density and color) were collected from two field trials focused on better understanding summer patch disease: one trial assessed soil pH and the second trial N fertilizer source effects. Objective 6: Quantifying benefits and informing the public We published two peer-reviewed publications in Crop Science and created six extension publications. Accounts under the name of "LowInputTurf" across multiple social media platforms were continued to be utilized to inform and educate the public, and earned 133,508 impressions on Twitter, and an average of 81 daily viewers on the Pinterest account has during the last reporting period. In January 2020, we began a blog on our website <https://lowinputturf.umn.edu> to promote current research our project team has been conducting. Fifteen articles were posted in this project period on topics that included heat tolerance in fine fescues, consumer willingness to adopt fine fescues, fine fescue seed production, choosing fine fescues for disease resistance and many others. The website had 3500 pageviews, with 90% of the visitors over this period being new to the site.

Publications

  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Anderson, N. and B. Donovan. 05/12/2020. Fine fescue seed production: An Oregon overview. https://lowinputturf.umn.edu/fine-fescue-seed-production-oregon-overview
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Barnes, M, K.C. Nelson, A. Kowalewski, A. Patton, E. Watkins. 2020. Public land manager discourses on barriers and opportunities for a transition to low input turfgrass in urban areas. Urban Forestry and Urban Greening, 53, 126745, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2020.126745
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Braun, R.C., A.J. Patton, A.R. Kowalewski and E.T. Braithwaite. 2019. Evaluation of Low-Input Turfgrass Patch and Repair Ingredients. ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Meeting. Poster and 5 Minute Rapid Oral Presentation 418-4. San Antonio, TX.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Braun, R.C., A.J. Patton, E. Watkins, P. Koch, N.P. Anderson, S.A. Bonos, & L.A. Brilman. 2020. Use of fine fescues on golf courses: III. Abiotic stresses. Golf Course Management. August, p.64-69.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Braun, R.C., A.J. Patton, E. Watkins, P. Koch, N.P. Anderson, S.A. Bonos, & L.A. Brilman. 2020. Use of fine fescues on golf courses: II. Availability, establishment, and management. Golf Course Management. July, p.52-58.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Braun, R.C., A.J. Patton, E. Watkins, P. Koch, N.P. Anderson, S.A. Bonos, & L.A. Brilman. 2020. Use of fine fescues on golf courses: I. Introduction and history. Golf Course Management. May, p. 60-64.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Braun, R.C., A.J. Patton, E. Watkins, P. Koch, N.P. Anderson, S.A. Bonos, & L.A. Brilman. 2020. Fine fescues: A review of the species, their improvement, production, establishment, and management. Crop Sci. 60:1142-1187 doi:10.1002/csc2.20122
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Braun, R., and A. Patton. What are the fine fescues? 1/23/2020. Low Input Turf Using Fine Fescues Project Website. https://lowinputturf.umn.edu/news/what-are-fine-fescues
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Braun, R.C., A.J. Patton, A. Kowalewski, & E.T. Braithwaite. 2019. Evaluation of low-input turfgrass patch and repair ingredients. Abstract 418-4 of the ASA, CSSA and SSSA International Meetings, San Antonio, TX. https://scisoc.confex.com/scisoc/2019am/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/119988
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Braithwaite, E., and A. Kowalewski. 8/26/2020. Low Input Species on High End Golf Courses  Using Fine Fescues. https://lowinputturf.umn.edu/low-input-species-high-end-golf-courses
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Huang, B. Heat tolerance in fine fescue species. 07/29/2020 https://lowinputturf.umn.edu/heat-tolerance-fine-fescue-species
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Koch, P. 06/15/2020. Choosing fine fescues for summer patch and snow mold resistance https://lowinputturf.umn.edu/choosing-fine-fescues-summer-patch-and-snow-mold-resistance
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Kowalewski, A., E. Braithwaite and B. McDonald. 3/23/2020. The Many Faces of Fine Fescue. Low Input Turf  Using Fine Fescues. https://lowinputturf.umn.edu/news/many-faces-fine-fescue
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Luo, J. and N. Zhang. 05/13/2020. What are the causal agents of summer patch disease of fine fescues? https://lowinputturf.umn.edu/what-are-causal-agents-summer-patch-disease-fine-fescues
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Luo, J. and N. Zhang. 2020. The Rice Blast Fungus and Allied Species: A Monograph of the Fungal Order Magnaporthales. https://magnaporthales.sebs.rutgers.edu/
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Mihelich, N., D. Petrella, F. Sessoms, L. M. Shannon and E. Watkins. Assessment of Tillering and Rhizomatous Growth in Strong Creeping Red Fescue. ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting, November 10-13, 2019, San Antonio, TX.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Nelson, K.C. and M. R. Barnes. 2019. Transformation for Sustainable Campus Turf: A framework for institutional change analysis, examination of four U.S. case studies, CSSA, SSA, ASSA Meetings, San Antonio, TX, November 11-13, 2019; 5-min rapid talk & poster.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Petrella D. and E. Watkins. October 2019. Evaluating fine fescue shade tolerance Golf Course Management magazine.
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Petrella, D. 10/16/2019. Different shade, different results. https://turf.umn.edu/news/different-shade-different-results
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Petrella, D. 01/30/2020. Out of the shadows: Using data to breed better turfgrasses for shade. https://lowinputturf.umn.edu/news/out-shadows-using-data-breed-better-turfgrasses-shade
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Petrella, D. and E. Watkins. Improving Our Approach on How We Analyze Turfgrasses for Tolerance to Foliar Shade. ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting, November 10-13, 2019, San Antonio, TX.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Qiu, Y., C.D. Hirsch, Y. Yang and E. Watkins. 2019. Towards Improved Molecular Identification Tools in Fine Fescue (Festuca L., Poaceae) Turfgrasses: Nuclear Genome Size, Ploidy, and Chloroplast Genome Sequencing. Frontiers in Genetics 10:1223. https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2019.01223
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Qiu, Y. 2020. Leveraging High Throughput Sequencing For Fine Fescue (Festuca Spp.) Breeding And Genetics. PhD Dissertation to the University of Minnesota.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Qiu, Y, Hamernick, S, Ortiz, JB, Watkins, E. 2020. DNA content and ploidy estimation of Festuca ovina accessions by flow cytometry. Crop Science 60: 2757 2767. https://doi.org/10.1002/csc2.20229
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Qiu, Y. Using flow cytometry for fine fescue taxa identification and determination. 10/09/2019. https://turf.umn.edu/news/using-flow-cytometry-fine-fescue-taxa-identification-and-determination
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Qiu, Y. March 2020. Molecular Breeding In Turfgrass Hole Notes online magazine. https://issuu.com/mgcsa/docs/2020_march_hole_notes__
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Qiu, Y., C. Hirsch and E. Watkins. Unveiling Transcriptome Composition in Hexaploid Hard Fescue (Festuca brevipila) through Pacbio Isoform Sequencing. ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting, November 10-13, 2019, San Antonio, TX
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Trappe, J., E. Watkins, D. Petrella and F. Sessoms. Natural Weed Suppression of Crabgrass Varies By Genotype and Field Management Practices. ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting, November 10-13, 2019, San Antonio, TX.
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Watkins, E. Thank you to our funders! 05/07/2020 https://turf.umn.edu/news/thank-you-our-funders
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Watkins, E. and Y. Qiu. Fine fescue forensics. 05/29/2020 https://lowinputturf.umn.edu/fine-fescue-forensics
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Qiu, Y. 2019. Improved methods for fine fescue identification. MTGF Clippings. Vol 7 No 2, Fall/Winter 2019.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Wu, D.S., A.L. Grimshaw, H.Y. Qu, P.L. Vines, E. N. Weibel, W.A. Meyer and S.A. Bonos. Inheritance of summer patch disease resistance in hard fescue. p. 53. In Proceedings of the 29th Rutgers Turfgrass Symposium. January 10, 2020.
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Xie, Y., M. Farhadloo, S. Shekhar, and L. Kne. 06/08/2020. New tools simplify searching for suitable turfgrass using the NTEP data. https://lowinputturf.umn.edu/new-tools-simplify-searching-suitable-turfgrass-using-ntep-data
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Yue, C., Y. Lai, and E. Watkins. 02/19/2020. Are consumers willing to adopt low-input turfgrasses for their home lawns? https://lowinputturf.umn.edu/news/are-consumers-willing-adopt-low-input-turfgrasses-their-home-lawns
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Yue, C., Y. Lai and E. Watkins. 2020. Are Consumers Willing to Adopt Low-Input Turfgrasses for Their Home Lawns? Poster Presentation at American Society of Horticulture Science 2020 Annual Conference.


Progress 09/01/18 to 08/31/19

Outputs
Target Audience:Target audiences include professional turfgrass managers, home lawn care professionals, homeowners, Master Gardeners, and seed producers. These groups have been reached through various means including presentations and online communication. We have also reached a significant scientific audience through peer reviewed publications and research seminars at conferences. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Researchers and postdoctoral associates are mentoring graduate students in methodology used in this project. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Presentations were given at field days at participating institutions. These field days were attended by our target audience including turfgrass industry professionals (golf course superintendents, public land managers, athletic field managers, parks managers, seed sales people, etc.), as well as homeowners. Research results were also presented at annual conferences. Several research presentations were given at the Crop Science Society of America annual meeting to inform the scientific community about our work. Students in undergraduate courses were also presented with results from this work during lecture and discussion sessions focused on sustainable turfgrass management. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?For Objective 1, the socio-economics team will start to clean and analyze the consumer survey data. Econometric/statistical models will be set up and tested to analyze the data. We aim to complete and submit one paper during the next reporting period. The team will start to draft the producer survey to investigate their barriers/incentives to adopt low-input turfgrasses. We will continue our work on identifying barriers for homeowners and public land managers and also complete two academic articles: institutional transitions in vegetation and public land manager perceptions of opportunities and barriers for the use of fine fescues. Finally, we will work on the development of a curriculum toolkit for undergraduate students to engage in fine fescue research using the demonstration plots. For Objective 2, we will implement new approaches for molecular identification of fine fescues in our breeding programs. The genomics team will assemble the hard fescue genome using the MECAT algorithm, and obtain EST sequences for an annotation (GFF) file using PacBio IsoSeq and Illumina PE 150 reads. We will continue bioinformatics analysis from the transcriptome for 'Reliant IV' and 'Predator' to look for specific genes and gene networks, as well as transcriptional factors that may explain the genetic variation in heat tolerance between the two fine fescue cultivars. Our newly-developed approach to screening for plant response to reduced light quality (low red:far red light) will be used to screen fine fescue breeding germplasm. We will complete fiber analysis of approximately 120 clones of hard, Chewings, and strong creeping red fescues and associate those constituents with traffic tolerance assessments made on the same clones during 2018. For the summer patch heritability study, there are now three locations for summer patch evaluation. We plan to calculate narrow-sense heritability of summer patch resistance from three environments and prepare a refereed publication. A segregating population for summer patch disease susceptibility will be genotyped using ddRAD sequencing in order to develop a genetic linkage map and identify QTL associated with summer patch resistance in hard fescue. The parents will also be inoculated with the pathogen under controlled conditions and a transcriptome analysis will be conducted to identify genes involved with the disease response in hard fescue. In Objective 3, new RPA primers for the various root fungi were recently ordered and work will be conducted during the winter of 2019-2020 to create an effective RPA assay to use in the field in 2020. In addition, we anticipate screening fine fescue breeding lines produced by other collaborators for resistance to Microdochium patch and Typhula blight. Plant pathologists at Rutgers will continue collecting, isolating and identifying summer patch pathogens from broad geographical areas in North America. Pathogenicity and virulence tests will be conducted and the most virulent strains will be selected for field inoculation experiments. The geographical distribution and population genetic data also will be analyzed to better understand the pathogen's dispersal and impact to fine fescue. Additionally, we will complete a second growth chamber screen to confirm the pathogenicity of Magnaporthiopsis poae and M. festuca-meyeri isolates on hard fescue and Kentucky bluegrass. We will inoculate hard fescue turf field plots with Magnaporthiopsis poae and M. festuca-meyeri isolates shown to be pathogenic in growth chamber studies and evaluate the effects of soil pH and N fertilizer sources on summer patch. After presenting our database work from Objective 4 to the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program, advisory board members were motivated by its potential in improving data management and have voted to add data of all species beyond fine-fescue into the database. Thus, the next step will be to further evaluate the flexibility of the database in storing and querying the new data. We will also continue to incorporate new fine-fescue data and further test the correctness of the database by comparing query results with manual results (e.g., summary tables from the NTEP website). Finally, we will move the database to a production server for more extensive user testing and refine the prototype web-application (e.g., flexibility, convenience). As part of Objective 5, we will continue the field research on turf best management practices. We plan to finish both the on-farm N X PGR trials and the spring mowing X PGR trial. We will conduct another focus group meeting with the industry participants to report outcomes. Extension publications and/or peer-reviewed manuscripts will be started once the final year of data has been compiled and analyzed. Turfgrass management trials will continue and data will be communicated to the project team and presented to stakeholder groups as it becomes available. For Objective 6, as part of our outreach activities,we will publish a literature review on fine fescues that can help inform the research community about possible future research directions. A master PowerPoint presentation and extension publication on fine fescues will be disseminated among collaborators to edit, use, and share with county and regional extension educators for use in consumer and professional education.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? As part of our first objective, we have developed consumer surveys to investigate the barriers and incentives to adopt low-input turfgrasses. The survey was then distributed to consumers and the survey data was collected; these results can help inform our research on management of fine fescues and help direct our outreach efforts. We have also finished analyzing the survey data about user preferences for public turfgrass performance data; these results have been published and are being used in Objective 4. Additional work has involved collaborating with college and university Sustainability and Facilities Management offices to develop fine fescue demonstration sites at universities in seven states. We completed data analysis for six focus group discussions with public land managers in Indiana, Oregon, & New Jersey related to fine fescue implementation. We then developed a summary of findings for the research team and hosted an exercise that elicited research team and advisory board member responses to public land manager concerns. The findings and responses were refined for an online outreach summary. We completed interviews at Minnesota, Oregon State, Purdue, & Rutgers, with decision makers regarding campus vegetation transitions. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed. In Objective 2, we developed markers useful for the identification of the major fine fescue taxa, which will help breeders and other researchers properly classify germplasm accessions, a very difficult task due to morphological similarity. Genomics work on hard fescue is ongoing; a total of 643Gb of PacBio Sequel reads (N50 of approximately 20kb) were generated for a 'Beacon' hard fescue genome. Heat stress tolerance is an important trait in fine fescues. We performed biochemical analysis and found that superior heat tolerance in 'Reliant IV', compared to 'Predator', was associated with active amino acid metabolism and the production of secondary metabolites involving antioxidant activity. Comparative transcriptomic analysis for two cultivars with contrasting response to heat stress indicated early transcriptomic responses to heat stress in the heat-tolerant cultivar. Heat stress for 14 d led to more transcript changes in 'Predator', reflecting late transcriptomic responses to heat stress in the heat-sensitive cultivar. Gene ontology analysis found that many genes enriched in 'Reliant IV' in response to heat stress are involved in oxidation-reduction process, oxidoreductase activity, oxylipin metabolic process, and transcription factor activity, suggesting the importance of those metabolic pathways in fine fescue heat tolerance. Although known for their shade tolerance, the fine fescues differ in how they respond to reduction in light quality. We have screened a number of fine fescue cultivars and found that strong creeping red fescue and Chewings fescue perform the best under light conditions similar to those found under vegetative shade while hard fescues do not perform as well. Based on this new knowledge, we have developed a system for screening breeding material using photoselective filters that should hasten the development of new fine fescue cultivars with enhanced shade tolerance. We have continued work towards improving our understanding of traffic tolerance of the fine fescues. Fiber analysis of approximately 120 clones of fine fescues is ongoing. This data will be used to associate with the traffic tolerance assessment made on the same clones in 2018. Breeding for resistance to summer patch disease will be critical for the success of fine fescues. A summer patch heritability study was established in May of 2017 and inoculated with both M. meyeri-festucae and M. poae in the summer of 2018. Another location of this experiment was established in the summer of 2019 and also inoculated with the same isolates. Both locations exhibited summer patch disease. Visual evaluation of summer patch disease was conducted in September of 2019 on both trials and confirmed to be summer patch disease. The population with largest variance for summer patch resistance was the cross between the tolerant and susceptible parents. Progeny from this cross were vegetatively propagated and established in the greenhouse. This population will be used for mapping QTL for summer patch resistance. Objective 3 is focused on the biology of summer patch disease. Team members at Rutgers isolated 42 fungal strains from eight fine fescue samples with summer patch symptoms. Based on DNA barcoding phylogeny, 17 isolates from New Jersey were identified as Magnaporthiopsis meyeri-festucae, and seven isolates from Indiana were identified as M. cynodontis. We inoculated Beacon hard fescue seedlings with one M. poae and ten M. meyeri-festucae isolates in the laboratory and observed hyphopodium and runner hyphae structures. Strains were provided to collaborators for further growth chamber inoculations. Isolates of Magnaporthiopsis poae and M. festuca-meyeri were screened for pathogenicity on hard fescue and Kentucky bluegrass at two air temperatures in growth chambers to assure isolates used in the field work are highly pathogenic. In addition, hard fescue turf was established in a field plot where it will be used to evaluate soil pH and N fertilizer source effects on summer patch disease. We are attempting to develop a fast and efficient recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) assay to detect and differentiate root-infecting pathogens of fine fescue in the field. In Objective 4, we are working to increase the accessibility of turfgrass evaluation data on fine fescues for consumers. We have analyzed user preferences based on survey responses. Using the results and feedback from turfgrass researchers, we have refined and finalized our database design by creating a more detailed and extensible Entity-Relationship diagram. The design has been validated by turfgrass researchers, National Turfgrass Evaluation Program advisory board members, and others. We have also implemented the database and tested its feasibility and execution-time for user queries. To further improve the convenience of user query, we have developed a prototype web-application allowing homeowners to find the most suitable cultivar with a few clicks. In Objective 5 we are developing fine fescue best management practices for both managed turf and seed production systems. Team members from Purdue and Oregon State initiated a patch and repair mulch trial to assess establishment and performance of a fine fescue mix, with and without fertility, along with various different mulch sources. The optimal seeding date trial to determine fine fescue seeding times is ongoing at multiple locations. Data was collected in IN, MN, OR, and NJ with the objectives to quantify maintenance inputs, compare new and old cultivars, and quantify mowing requirements of fine fescues compared to other turf species. A fine fescue fertilization establishment trial was initiated to observe nitrogen requirements at establishment on individual species. Fine fescue seed production is critical to increased use by consumers. In 2019, we completed year 2 of on-farm trials in Oregon to evaluate seed yield and yield component effects of different nitrogen and plant growth regulator (PGR) treatments on Chewings and creeping red fescue in the absence of field burning. We also initiated a spring mowing X plant growth regulator trial the Oregon State Hyslop Research Farm. There are two spring mowing treatments and four PGR treatments on both Chewings and creeping red fescues. Seed yield and seed yield components were determined. Finally, for Objective 6, we have been active in outreach to professional groups and other stakeholders. Several "LowInputTurf" social media accounts are actively being used across several platforms as a way to reach the general public.

Publications

  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Petrella, D.P., and E. Watkins. 2018. Evaluating shade tolerance among fine fescue species. ASA-CSSA International Meeting, Baltimore, MD. (Poster presentation).
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Trappe, J.M., F. Sessoms, D.P. Petrella, E. Watkins, and A. Patton. 2018. Identifying and confirming natural weed suppression in fine fescues. ASA-CSSA International Meeting. Baltimore, MD. (Oral presentation)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Grimshaw, A.L., H. Y. Qu, P. L. Vines, N. Zhang, W. A. Meyer and S.A. Bonos. 2018. Comparison of Magnaporthiopsis meyeri-festucae isolates by phenotypic turf response. In Agronomy Abstracts. ASA, Madison, WI.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Chen, H. and J. Murphy. 2018. Wear tolerance of fine fescues in relation to leaf tissue fiber content. ASA-CSSA International Meeting, Baltimore, MD. (Poster presentation)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Chen, H., and J. A. Murphy. 2018. Leaf bruising of fine fescues subjected to wear during three seasons. European Turfgrass Society Conference, July 2018. Manchester, United Kingdom. (Oral presentation)
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Barnes, M.R. and K.C. Nelson. 2019. Transitions to fine fescues. Web publication. http://lowinputturf.umn.edu/current-research/transitions-fine-fescues
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Nelson, K.C., H. Ramer, A. Christianson, M. Barnes, A. Meyer, E. Watkins, S. Bonos, B. Horgan, J.A. Murphy, and C. Yue. 2019. Anticipatory governance for sustainable urban public lands: Addressing vegetation management challenges of today and tomorrow. International Symposium on Society and Resource Management (ISSRM), Oshkosh, WI, June 4-7. (Oral presentation)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Nelson, K.C., M.R. Barnes, and E. Watkins. 2019. Institutional change the case of sustainable vegetation on college campuses, Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA50), Brooklyn, New York City, New York, May 23-25. (Poster presentation)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Jing Luo, Ning Zhang. The rice blast fungus and allied species: A monograph of the fungal order Magnaporthales. Mycological Society of America annual meeting. August, 2019. (Oral presentation)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Qiu, Y., C. Hirsch, and E. Watkins. 2018. Complete chloroplast genome sequence of hard fescue (Festuca brevipila). ASA-CSSA International Meeting. Baltimore, MD. (Oral presentation).
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Qiu, Y. 2018. Developing a quick test to distinguish fine fescue species in mixtures. University of Minnesota Turfgrass Science website, October 10, 2018. (blog post). https://turf.umn.edu/news/developing-quick-test-distinguish-fine-fescue-species-mixtures
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Qu, Y., R.M. Daddio, P.E. McCullough, S.A. Bonos and W.A. Meyer. 2019. Phytotoxicity of methiozolin on fine fescue. HortTechnology 29: 265-270.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Wang, J., B. Yuan, Y. Xu, and B. Huang. 2018. Differential responses of amino acids and soluble proteins to heat stress associated with genetic variations in heat tolerance for hard fescue (Festuca trachyphylla). J. Am. Soc. Hort. Sci. 143(1):4555.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Wang, J., B. Yuan, and B. Huang. 2019. Differential heat-induced changes in phenolic acids associated with genotypic variations in heat tolerance for hard fescue. Crop Sci. 59:667-674.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Yue, C., J. Wang, E. Watkins, Y. Xie, S. Shekhar, S.A. Bonos, A. Patton, K. Morris, and K. Moncada. 2019. User preferences for accessing publically available turfgrass cultivar performance data. HortTechnology 1:1-12.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Yue, C., J. Wang, E. Watkins, S.A. Bonos, K.C. Nelson, J.A. Murphy, W.A. Meyer, and B.P. Horgan. 2019. Investigating the practices and challenges for turfgrass breeders and distributors. Hortscience 54:129-135. doi:10.21273/hortsci13343-18.


Progress 09/01/17 to 08/31/18

Outputs
Target Audience:Presentations were given at field days in Minnesota, Oregon, Indiana, and New Jersey. These field days were attended by our target audience including turfgrass industry professionals (golf course superintendents, public land managers, athletic field managers, parks managers, seed sales people, etc.), as well as homeowners. Research results were also presented at Northern Green in Minneapolis and at the Grass Seed Institute in Roseau, MN. Students in undergraduate courses were also presented with results from this work during lecture and discussion sessions focused on sustainable turfgrass management. 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 disseminated results from the first year of this project to stakeholders through talks at professional conferences and presentations at field days. We have communicated results to the scientific community through scientific journal papers and presentations at scientific conferences. We have also posted updates on university turfgrass science websites to reach a wider lay audience. We have also posted updates on social media to reach a wider lay audience. Accounts under the name of "LowInputTurf" have been created across multiple social media platforms to inform and educate the public. Since 1 May 2018, our tweets have earned 65,200 impressions on Twitter, and the Pinterest account has an average of 108 monthly viewers. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?For the work on identifying barriers for homeowners and public land managers, we will finalize both the consumer survey and the producer survey for distribution to our target audience, and develop economic models based on the results (Objectives 1.1 and 1.2). Important parameters we hope to measure include what are the reasonable investments that consumers will make to re-do their lawns with low-input grasses and what kinds of savings consumers might expect over time if they converted to low-input grasses. For Objectives 1.3 and 1.4, we will complete the remaining focus groups, interviews, and subsequent transcriptions. Remaining interviews will include institutional representatives from the University of Wisconsin, Utah State, and University of Minnesota. We will analyze and prepare both a practical document for the collaborators on this grant, as well as a journal article focused on higher education institution transitions to fine fescues on campuses. Outputs from this objective will also include a combined curriculum and research toolkit for undergraduate students to be distributed to partner institutions to engage students with the fine fescue demonstration plots planted in the previous grant period. The breeding and genetics projects in Objective 2 are at different stages of development and will take different approaches. For the summer patch heritability study, a second year of summer patch evaluation will be conducted in 2019. Another trial will be established and inoculated with both pathogens in the spring of 2019. We hope to determine narrow-sense heritability of summer patch resistance from two years of data. Because we now know the reaction of the crosses to summer patch disease, a population will be genotyped using Genotyped by Sequencing (GBS) sequencing to develop a genetic linkage map and identify QTL associated with summer patch resistance in hard fescue. The parents will also be inoculated with the pathogen under controlled conditions and a transcriptome analysis will be conducted to identify genes involved with the disease response in hard fescue. We will continue RNA-seq analysis of leaf transcriptome for 'Reliant IV' and 'Predator' under heat stress. We will perform annotation of sequences identified from both cultivars and the analysis of GO term and KEGG pathways. Fine fescue genotypes sampled in NJ and MN will have biomass and fiber composition quantified for the wear stress part of this objective. Snow mold screening of breeding material will commence once methods are tested and confirmed for both Microdochium patch and Typhula blight. We will continue to conduct bioassays to better understand allelopathy in Chewings fescue and confirm the compound(s) responsible for the observed response; this work will eventually lead to more useful screening methods. We will continue to evaluate fine fescue turfgrass breeding plots for other diseases that have historically been seen on lower-input turfgrasses including dollar spot (caused by Sclerotinia homoeocarpa), red thread (caused by Laetisaria fuciformis), and leaf spot (caused by Bipolaris, Drechslera, and Exserohilum spp.). For Objective 3, we will continue collecting, isolating and identifying summer patch pathogen for fine fescues from a broad geographical area in North America. The fungal strains will be used for pathogenicity and virulence evaluation, and the most virulent ones will be selected for field inoculation experiments. The geographical distribution and population genetic data also will be analyzed to better understand the pathogen's dispersal and impact to fine fescue. Pathogenic isolates identified in growth chamber study for relative pathogenicity will be used to select for field experiments to support breeding efforts. Hard fescue subplots in the soil pH trial will be inoculated with pathogenic isolates and monitored for summer patch severity. Similarly, pathogenic isolates will be inoculated into the nitrogen source trial on 'Predator' hard fescue and monitored for disease severity. For Objective 4, we are analyzing user needs and preferences based on survey responses. We will advance our prototype design of the database and the data will then be reformatted into the refined database. The database will be validated against the desired queries of users to test if the queries are feasible based on the database design and if the time cost of the queries are acceptable. Upon successful validation, the database will be moved from local machines to production servers. The next step will be the web-application building process to provide on-demand turfgrass seed recommendations with minimal user input. As part of Objective 5, we will continue the field research on turf best management practices at of fine fescues in turfgrass evaluations and collect and analyze data from the three field experiments. A fourth field experiment investigating home lawn renovation barriers with fine fescues will be established in fall 2019 in multiple states. This research is helping us identify solutions to three barriers - sod availability, lawn conversion practices, and post-establishment management - to consumer adoption of fine fescues. For the work to increase fine fescue seed production, we will hold focus group meetings to continue receiving input from the fine fescue seed industry. The second year of the nitrogen by plant growth regulator interaction trials will be conducted on four second year commercial fine fescue fields. We will carry out a spring mowing trial on creeping red fescue and Chewings fescue to evaluate the effects of early clipping on head emergence timing, above ground biomass, and seed yield. On-farm trials will be displayed at a field tour associated with the International Herbage Seed Group Conference. Spring mowing trials will be part of OSU's Hyslop Field Day. For Objective 6, which focuses on informing the public on fine fescue benefits, we will first publish the literature review on fine fescues that will address gaps in knowledge of previous research. We will create a master PowerPoint presentation on the installation and care of low-input fine fescue with an end goal to be shared with county and regional extension educators, as well as turf scientists for use in consumer and professional education. Our outreach efforts via social media will continue to communicate the benefits of fine fescues to our target audience.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Our project is based on stakeholder interest in lower-input turfgrasses to provide functional turf areas while reducing inputs of water, fertilizer, mowing, and pesticides. Our long-term objective is to increase the use of fine fescues for sustainable landscapes. In the first year of our project, we have made much progress in addressing our objectives of identifying barriers that are preventing stakeholders from using fine fescues, finding innovative solutions to these barriers, and developing cultivars that fulfill their desires. In Objective 1, we collaborated with college and university Sustainability Offices and Facilities Management Offices to develop fine fescue demonstration plot sites at universities in seven states. Signs at each site direct passers-by to more information at lowinputturf.umn.edu. We completed six focus groups with public land managers in Indiana, Oregon, and New Jersey related to fine fescue implementation on public lands and began interviews at partner institutions with individuals involved in turf decision making on their respective campuses. We have also drafted a consumer survey focused on conversion of lawns to low-input species that will be distributed in spring 2019. In Objective 2, we have been focused on genetic improvement of fine fescue species. Researchers at Rutgers University established a hard fescue summer patch heritability study in two locations that was inoculated with both M. meyeri-festucae and M. poae in the summer of 2018. In addition, hard fescue and strong creeping red fescue genotypes have been identified that contrast in response to wear tolerance and crossed in a diallel scheme. Progeny derived from these crosses will be evaluated for wear tolerance traits. Also at Rutgers, members of our team studied differential physiological performances for hard fescue cultivars 'Reliant IV' and 'Predator'. They found that 'Reliant IV' began to show improved heat tolerance and this response was related to significantly higher chlorophyll content, better photosynthetic efficiency, and lower electrolyte leakage. Total RNA from leaf samples of both 'Reliant IV' and 'Predator' at 0, 7, and 14 d of heat stress was extracted and sent for RNA-seq analysis using Illumina HiSeq platform. At the University of Wisconsin, we are testing inoculation methods for Typhula fungi to use in screening large numbers of fine fescue plants for Typhula resistance. We found that placing a sterile rye grain infested with either Typhula fungi and growing for 4 weeks at a constant temperature of 4 degrees C was the most effective inoculation method relative to the other treatments tested. At the University of Minnesota, we have confirmed fine fescue-mediated weed suppression against crabgrass in both field and growth chamber experiments. We have also determined optimal nitrogen and phosphorus levels for future bioassays on allelopathy in the fine fescues. We have begun sequencing a hard fescue genotype for the development of a reference genome that will allow for more rapid improvement of important traits. We have also begun to assemble an association population of diverse hard fescue genotypes; phenotyping of this panel will be done using various methods developed as part of this grant. Objective 3 is focused on the biology of summer patch disease. We isolated 183 fungal strains from 30 fine fescue samples that showed summer patch-like symptoms to determine the biogeography and pathogenicity of this pathogen. These samples were collected from CA, OR, IN, MA, MN, and NJ. Based on DNA barcoding, 29 isolates from NJ and MA were identified as Magnaporthiopsis meyeri-festucae, the recently described pathogen that causes root infection of fine fescue. The fungal cultures will be used for inoculation experiments in the field. We have also initiated field and growth chamber studies to further our understanding of this disease. In the field, soil pH amendments were applied to main plots and two hard fescue cultivars were seeded as subplots in a field trial to assess the influence of pH on disease severity; a second trial is assessing the impact of nitrogen sources on disease severity. A growth chamber study was initiated to evaluate the relative pathogenicity of Magnaporthiopsis spp. [M. meyeri-festucae (22 isolates), M. poae (1 isolate), M. incrustans (10 isolates), M. cynodontis (3 isolates), M. taurocanis (5 isolates)], and used to select pathogenic isolates for other experiments. In Objective 4, we are working to increase the accessibility of turfgrass evaluation data on fine fescues for consumers. To guide database design, we created a web-based Qualtrics survey with 24 detailed questions to ask for desired uses and functionalities from various user groups (e.g., researchers, managers, home owners). Over 300 responses were received. As the first step in developing the Relational DataBase Management Systems, we gathered current National Turfgrass Evaluation Program data and transformed them into a single relational database table (i.e., with over 10,000 rows and 100 attributes). We designed a working prototype of the database (i.e., a conceptual Entity-Relationship diagram and a set of normalized database tables). In Objective 5 we are developing fine fescue best management practices for both managed turf and seed production systems. We established turf field experiments in IN, MN, OR, NJ, and CT to identify solutions to management and establishment barriers. Objectives of these field experiments include determining optimal seeding time of the year, quantifying maintenance inputs, comparing new and improved to old cultivars, and quantifying mowing requirements of fine fescues compared to other turf species. For seed production, we assembled a focus group of Oregon fine fescue seed producers and held two meetings to gather input on research goals. Based on focus group input, four on-farm trials were conducted to evaluate nitrogen by plant growth regulator interactions on seed yield and seed yield components in first year creeping red fescue and Chewings fescue fields in the absence of field burning. A new trial was planted in spring 2018 in Oregon to evaluate the effects of spring mowing on head emergence, above ground biomass, and seed yield. As part of Objective 6, we drafted a literature review of the fine fescue species that includes their improvement, production, establishment and management barriers. Social media accounts under the name of "LowInputTurf" have been created across multiple platforms to inform and educate the public. Since May 2018, our tweets have earned 65,200 impressions on Twitter, and our Pinterest account has an average of 108 monthly viewers.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Barnes, M.R., K.C. Nelson, A. Meyer, E. Watkins, S. Bonos, B. Horgan, W. Meyer, J. Murphy, and C. Yue. 2018. Public land managers and sustainable urban vegetation: The case of low-input turfgrasses. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 29:284-292.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Grimshaw, A.L., Qu, Y., Meyer, W.A., Watkins, E. and Bonos, S.A., 2018. Heritability of simulated wear and traffic tolerance in three fine fescue species. HortScience 53(4):416-420.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Grimshaw, A., J. Luo, P.L. Vines, L. Hoffman, S.A. Bonos, B.B. Clarke, J.A. Murphy, W. A. Meyer, and N. Zhang. 2018. Evaluation of pathogenicity of a newly discovered summer patch causal organism. p.29. In Proceedings of the 27th Rutgers Turfgrass Symposium. January 12, 2018.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Grimshaw, A.L., J. Lou, P. Vines, L. Hoffman, N. Zhang, B.B. Clarke, S. Bonos and W. A. Meyer. 2017. Evaluation of pathogenicity for a newly discovered summer patch causal pathogen. In Agronomy Abstracts. ASA, Madison, WI.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Luo J., P.L. Vines, A. Grimshaw, L. Hoffman, E. Walsh, S. Bonos, B.B. Clarke, J.A. Murphy, W.A. Meyer, and N. Zhang. 2017. Magnaporthiopsis meyeri-festucae sp. nov. associated with a summer patch-like disease of fine fescue turfgrasses. Mycologia 109:780-789. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00275514.2017.1400306.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Luo, J., P.L. Vines, A. Grimshaw, L. Hoffman, E. Walsh, S.A. Bonos, B.B. Clarke, J.A. Murphy, W.A. Meyer, and N. Zhang. 2018. Novel Magnaporthales fungi pathogenic to switchgrass and turfgrasses. International Congress of Plant Pathology. Boston, USA, July 31, 2018, poster.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Mercer-Taylor, B., K.C. Nelson, M. Barnes, and S. Helle. 2017. How could the grass on your campus be as green as it looks? Upper Midwest Association for Campus Sustainability (UMACS), Central College, Pella, Iowa, October 5, poster.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Schultz, L., K.C. Nelson, M. Barnes, and S. Helle. 2017. How could the grass on your campus be as green as it looks? Association of American Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), San Antonio, Texas, October 15-18, poster.