Source: TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY submitted to NRP
DEVELOPING SUSTAINABLE TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS FOR THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
HATCH
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1018565
Grant No.
(N/A)
Cumulative Award Amt.
(N/A)
Proposal No.
(N/A)
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Jan 13, 2019
Project End Date
Jan 13, 2024
Grant Year
(N/A)
Program Code
[(N/A)]- (N/A)
Recipient Organization
TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
750 AGRONOMY RD STE 2701
COLLEGE STATION,TX 77843-0001
Performing Department
Soil & Crop Sciences
Non Technical Summary
With the major shift from rural to urban population centers occurring in recent decades, agricultural landscapes continue to be converted into urban metropolitan centers at a record pace. Urbanization has altered the soil ecosystem by increasing impervious surfaces, increasing storm water runoff volumes, and altering the hydrology of plant communities. Turfgrass has become the dominant component of many urban landscapes due to its functionality in athletic fields, golf courses, home lawns, and landscapes. In fact, in the United States, turfgrass has become the single largest irrigated crop. Turfgrasses offer numerous recreational and environmental benefits including erosion control, heat mitigation, and biological filtration of contaminants in effluent and rainwater. Despite this, pressures to conserve water and reduce fertilizer/ pesticide usage continue to be targeted to turfgrass systems, and a greater emphasis has been placed on the efficient use of resources (fertilizer, water, etc.). More recently, alternative plant communities (i.e. native grass mixtures, etc.), water-efficient xeriscapes, and even synthetic turf lawns have gained popularity with consumers for use within urban areas, based on the presumption of lower maintenance and inputs required. Municipalities and water purveyors have even promoted and incentivized such landscape conversions away from turfgrass in recent years, with little consideration given to the unintended consequences both from an environmental as well as ecosystem services standpoint. More than ever, scientific information is needed pertaining to ecosystem services and best management practices for greater sustainability of urban landscape ecosystems including turfgrass, as well as approaches to minimizing long-term environmental impacts from them.
Animal Health Component
70%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
20%
Applied
70%
Developmental
10%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
10221301020100%
Knowledge Area
102 - Soil, Plant, Water, Nutrient Relationships;

Subject Of Investigation
2130 - Turf;

Field Of Science
1020 - Physiology;
Goals / Objectives
Investigate primary and secondary cultural management practices of conventional turfgrass as well as alternative landscape systems for successful growth and efficient use of resources, with the goal of developing functional, sustainable, and low impact systems with minimal environmental impact.Determine the environmental fate of water, nutrients, pathogens, and pesticides from landscape systems including turfgrass and establish criteria on how to best establish, maintain, and maximize productivity within these systems while minimizing environmental impacts.Compare the environmental stress tolerance (drought, salinity, low-temperature, shade) of experimental germplasm and commercially available turf cultivars and develop best management practices for adequate maintenance of these varieties.Collaborate in continuing development new technologies for improving resource use efficiency, landscape and turfgrass health, and minimizing environmental losses from urban landscapes.
Project Methods
This project will involve applied and basic investigations utilizing the field and laboratory resources available to the program. The Turf Ecology Program within the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences has a premier field ecology laboratory located in College Station, TX. Collaborative research with the breeding program will also utilize facilities at the Texas A&M AgriLIFE Research Center in Dallas, TX. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Center for Lawn and Garden Research is equipped with independently zoned, replicated irrigation research field plots consisting of multiple warm season turfgrasses representing lawns, golf, and athletic turf. Also, we have recently completed a state- of-the-art Urban Ecology Runoff Laboratory, which consists of 24 replicated, independently zoned irrigation plots for studying irrigation and fertilizer management practices on runoff volume and water quality. A 1 acre sand-capping turfgrass research facility as well as a 20,000 sq. ft. shade research facility has also been recently constructed at the site for increasing the capacity for research. Our location in the southern U.S. positions us well to study a range of environmental stress impacts such as poor quality irrigation water, sodic soils, and drought on turfgrass growth and quality. Multiple greenhouse and growth chamber facilities available through the department allow us to examine more basic research questions with finer detail.

Progress 10/01/19 to 09/30/20

Outputs
Target Audience:Target audiences reached by my program's efforts during this reporting period include university, state, regional, national, and international clientele groups in the lawn, sports turf, golf, landscape, and turf industries including the following: - USDA NIFA - United States Golf Association Greens Section - Golf Course Superintendents and their Associations (Texas and National- GCSAA, USGA) - Athletic Field Managers and their industry (STMA) - Texas Turfgrass and Landscape Industry - Turfgrass Producers International - Turfgrass Producers of Texas - Texas Turfgrass Assn - National Turfgrass Evaluation Program - Texas County Extension Agents - Texas Nursery and Landscape Assn. - Texas County Master Gardeners - Texas Dept. of Agriculture, USDA (specialty crops research initiative) - SSC Grounds (Texas A&M's Landscape Maintenance Group) - Texas A&M Gardens - Citizens of Texas Major Turf and Ornamental Industry partners: - The Scotts Miracle Gro Company - Bayer Crop Science - Aqua Aid, Inc. - Anuvia - GeoJava - Agricen - American Plant Food - Helena, Inc. 30 undergraduate and 4 graduate students in Dept. of Soil & Crop Science. Changes/Problems:The Covid-19 pandemic and associated mandatory shutdowns, student/staff health issues have created some minor delays in the project, which has resulted in no cost extensions being provided for multiple projects. However, strong progress is still being made as noted by strong grant funding and increased peer-review publications. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Over the past year, a total of 5 graduate students, two technicians, and one post-doc have been trained/developed through this project. These projects offer students and staff multi-state collaborations through USDA SCRI project, which now includes universities from 6 states including CA, OK, TX, GA, FL, and NC). It also offers them multi-disciplinary training and experiences, as projects integrate multiple research areas including water quality, ecosystem services, engineering, breeding, weed science, and horticulture. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?-Golf Course Superintendents Assn. of America Annual Meetings (January 2020- Orlando, FL) -Texas A&M Turfgrass Ecology Short Course (March 2020- College Station, TX) -Texas Turfgrass Assn. Summer Virtual Meeting- (July 2020) -West Texas GCSA/ TCEQ Irrigators Workshop- (September 2020) -Crop Science Society of America International Meetings (November 2020- Virtual) -Texas Turfgrass Assn. Winter Meeting- (December 2020- Frisco, TX) What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?I plan to build and culminate collaborative relationships with industry and faculty to meet the objectives of the ongoing research projects and see graduate research programs to completion. Interact with other faculty from across the country at regional and national meetings, as well as to engage industry stakeholders to identify problems and develop research programs to address these issues. We also plan to begin expansion of our Turfgrass Research faciltiy to accomodate new research areas and strengthen our impact with recent hiring of new turf faculty colleague Dr. Chase Straw.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Currently Co-PI on third multi-year (4-yr) USDA-NIFA funded Specialty Crops Research Initiative project involving collaboration among faculty from Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Oklahoma State Univ., Univ. of Florida, Univ. of Georgia, and N.C. State University, UC Riverside, as well as industry advisors from National Turfgrass Evaluation Program (Kevin Morris), United States Golf Association (Mike Kenna), Turfgrass Producers of Texas (John Cosper), Water Managers including San Antonio Water System (Karen Guz) and Masaun Consulting (Whitney Milberger-Laird), and Texas Builders Association (V.P. Ned Munoz). Goal of the current project is to advance drought and salinity tolerant turfgrass cultivars developed during the earlier projects (2011-2019) and determine reference ET-based water requirements, wilt-based minimal water requirements, and drought resistance mechanisms. This multidisciplinary project involves breeders, physiologists, extension, and economists. These projects have garnered over $16 million in funding and resulted in co-authorship on seven peer-reviewed publications (4 published and 3 in prep). More importantly, six cultivars possessing superior drought and salinity tolerance have been released from the program. The first of these cultivar releases, 'TifTuf' bermudagrass, uses 38% less water than 'Tifway', the most widely utilized bermudagrass cultivar around the world. Since this release, 'TamStar' St. Augustinegrass and 'Tahoma 31' bermudagrass have also been released from the program. These two drought tolerant grasses are increasing in production acres and licensees across the U.S. The most recent drought-tolerant release, 'CitraBlue' St. Augustinegrass, is under initial expansion with producers, and two zoysiagrass releases are still being evaluated by producers to make decisions regarding commercialization. Currently collaborating on a fourth multi-year (2-yr) Texas Research, Engineering, and Extension Water Seed Grant Projects involving faculty from Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Texas Engineering Experiment Station (TEES). Project involves building upon our recently developed autonomous irrigation control system utilizing our patented Landscape Irrigation Runoff Mitigation System, or 'LIRMS', which has been shown to result in a 1.5 to 2X increase in irrigation soil wetting efficiency, up to 30-70% reductions in runoff, and corresponds and adjusts to local municipal water restrictions. Current project is seeking to add additional control through camera-based detection of drought stress and feedback control of irrigation. We have worked closely with San Antonio Water System and City of College Station Water Conservation Department in determining best use of the system for meeting needs of water purveyors. Collaborators on current project are Dr. Jorge Alvarado (TEES), Dr. Jean Francois Chamberland (Electrical Engineering), and Dr. Becky Bowling (TWRI). The team was the first of all Waterseed funded projects to be issued a patent, issued May 1, 2018. We were approached by Academic Technology Ventures, Inc., who expressed strong interest in the LIRMS technology, and with whom we continue to discuss possibility for licensing of the technology. We have also initiated discussions with Toro Company and Rachio on possible licensing of the technology. During both spring and fall 2018 semesters, Graduate Students in Mays Business School MGMT 632- Technology Commercialization selected LIRMS as a TAMU invention on which to conduct market analysis. Both semesters, the students gave it a highly favorable rating after surveying and learning of interest and market need from major municipalities and irrigation companies throughout the United States. Developed an industry partnership with GeoJava, a subsidiary of Aspen Beverage, San Antonio, Texas, and Mayer, LLC, Azle, TX. Aspen is one of the world's largest cold and hot brew coffee extractors, and generates substantial quantities of spent coffee grounds (SCG). Mayer is a manufacturer of potting soils, amendments, and fertilizers for the turf and landscape industry. Designing and carrying out research to address challenges and questions regarding potential use of SCG, I have brought together a team of SCSC and Horticulture faculty to explore feasibility of utilizing SCG as a topdressing/fertilizer, pre-emergence herbicide, and also as a root zone amendment for sand-based systems. We applied for and received $10,000 grant from the USGA Greens Section, $16,000 from a Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Grant, and $24,000 from GeoJava to support this project. The findings of our research demonstrate very promising results of SCG when used as a root zone amendment, and as a component of bridge fertilizer, and suggest it may be a viable substitute for sphagnum peat moss (a non-renewable resource that is currently in short supply) in sand based root zones. The findings have received national and international interest, and were even highlighted in Farm Week Ireland. Currently, based on our research findings, Mayer Materials and GeoJava have co-developed multiple SCG-based organic and bridge fertilizers for the lawn, garden, and professional turf industries including 'Java Turf' Hybrid Fertilizer, 'Java Peat' organic root zone amendment, 'Java Soil' coffee ground amended potting soil, all of which are being distributed nationally by Mayer Materials. Currently serve as PI on large, multi-year study co-funded by The Lawn Institute (Turfgrass Producers International, Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, and Texas Turfgrass Research, Extension, and Education Endowment evaluating ecosystem services and environmental impacts of urban landscape conversions (i.e., removal of turfgrass lawns and replacement with 'water efficient' plantings). The project is situated on the Urban Landscape Runoff Facility at the Texas A&M Scotts Miracle-Gro Center for Lawn and Garden Research. Many communities across the southern and western U.S. now incentivize removal of turfgrass lawns and replacement with alternative landscape plantings, with little supporting data on which to base such decisions. This project has received widespread interest from turfgrass producers, landscape architects, water purveyors, and municipalities throughout the region, and will offer science-based data relating to ecosystem services and environmental impacts of various types of landscapes. The project has provided very interesting seed data that are being used to support submission of NSF grants in collaboration with other programs across the college and university.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2020 Citation: M. Chavarria, B. Wherley, R. Jessup, and A. Chandra. Physiological Responses to Salinity among Warm-Season Turfgrasses of Contrasting Salinity Tolerance.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: B.T. Gouveia, J.A. Rodrigues Nunes, S.A. Gezan, P.R. Munoz, K.E. Kenworthy, J. B. Unruh, G.L. Miller, S.R. Milla-Lewis, B.M. Schwartz, P.L. Raymer, A. Chandra, B. Wherley, Y. Wu, D. Martin, J. Q. Moss and E. F. Rios. Multi-species genotype-by-environment interaction for turf quality in five turfgrass breeding programs in the southeastern United States. In Press Crop Science. https://doi.org/10.1002/csc2.20421
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Beatriz Tom� Gouveia, Esteban Fernando Rios, Jos� Airton Rodrigues Nunes, Salvador Alejandro Gezan, Patricio R. Munoz, Kevin E. Kenworthy, J. Bryan Unruh, Grady L. Miller, Susana R. Milla-Lewis, Brian M. Schwartz, Paul L. Raymer, Ambika Chandra, Benjamin G. Wherley, Yanqi Wu, Dennis Martin and Justin Moss. Genotype-by-environment interaction for turfgrass quality in bermudagrass across the southeastern United States. Crop Science. https://doi.org/10.1002/csc2.20260
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: D. Dyer, B. Wherley, K. McInnes, R. Hejl, and C. Reynolds. 2020. Sand-Capping Depth and Subsoil Influences on Tifway Bermudagrass Response to Irrigation Frequency and Drought. In Press Agronomy Journal. https://doi.org/10.1002/agj2.20319
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: B. Chang, B. Wherley, J. Aitkenhead-Peterson, and J. West. Water chemistry and nitrogen source effect foliar uptake efficiency in Champion bermudagrass. In Press Journal of Plant Nutrition. https://doi.org/10.1080/01904167.2020.1783310
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: M. Chavarria, B. Wherley, R. Jessup, and A. Chandra. Leaf anatomical responses and chemical composition of warm-season turfgrasses to increasing salinity. Current Plant Biology 22: 100147 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpb.2020.100147
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: B. Chang, N. Ojeda, B. Wherley, J. Aitkenhead-Peterson, C. Fontanier, and P. Dwyer. Effect of wetting agent on nutrient and water retention and runoff from simulated urban lawns. HortScience 55(7): 1005-1013. https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTSCI14982-20
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: T. Culpepper, J. Young, and B. Wherley. Physiological response to water deficit stress with restricted rooting in tall fescue and zoysiagrass. Journal of Environmental Horticulture 38(1): 29-36. https://doi.org/10.24266/0738-2898-38.1.29
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: A. Birnbaum, *R. Earp, *G. Flores, B. Wherley, J. Howe, and D. Reed. Mineralization Rate and CO2 Release of Spent Coffee Grounds: Their Potential as a Slow Release Fertilizer. ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Virtual Meetings.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: C. Fontanier, R. White, J. Aitkenhead-Peterson, J. Thomas, and B. Wherley. 2020. Nitrogen species concentration and exports in runoff from St. Augustinegrass. Agronomy Journal.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: C. Fontanier, R. White, J. Aitkenhead-Peterson, J. Thomas, and B. Wherley. Effective rainfall estimates for St. Augustinegrass lawns under varying irrigation programs. Agronomy Journal
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: R. Hejl, B. Wherley, K. McInnes, C. Straw, B. Grubbs, T. Carson, C. Fontanier. Data-Driven Moisture Management for Sand-Capped Fairways. ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Virtual Meetings.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: R. Hejl, B. Wherley, K. McInnes, C. Straw, B. Grubbs, C. Fontanier. 2020. Factors Leading to Temporal and Spatial Variability of Soil Moisture Dynamics of Sand-Capped Fairway Systems. ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Virtual Meetings.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: B. Chang, H. Da Ros Carvalho, B. Wherley, J. Aitkenhead-Peterson, K. McInnes, and J. Heilman. Net Radiation and Surface Energy Fluxes Associated with Turfgrass Removal and Urban Landscape Conversions. ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Virtual Meetings.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: B. Wherley, M. Chavarria, and C. Reynolds. Just Passing Through: Effect of Colorants on Sunlight Transmission. Golf Course Management Magazine. https://www.gcmonline.com/course/environment/news/turf-colorants-light-transmission
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: B. Wherley, *G. Flores, and K. McInnes. Feasibility of Spent Coffee Grounds as a Turf Fertilizer and Root Zone Amendment. Golf Course Management Magazine 5:77. https://www.gcmonline.com/course/environment/news/coffee-grounds-turfgrass


Progress 01/13/19 to 09/30/19

Outputs
Target Audience:Target audiences reached by my program's efforts during this reporting period include university, state, regional, national, and international clientele groups in the lawn, sports turf, golf, landscape, and turf industries including the following: - USDA NIFA - United States Golf Association Greens Section - Golf Course Superintendents and their Associations (Texas and National- GCSAA, USGA) - Athletic Field Managers and their industry (STMA) - Texas Turfgrass and Landscape Industry - Turfgrass Producers International - Turfgrass Producers of Texas - Texas Turfgrass Assn - National Turfgrass Evaluation Program - Texas County Extension Agents - Texas Nursery and Landscape Assn. - Texas County Master Gardeners - Texas Dept. of Agriculture, USDA (specialty crops research initiative) - SSC Grounds (Texas A&M's Landscape Maintenance Group) - Texas A&M Gardens - Citizens of Texas Major Turf and Ornamental Industry partners: - The Scotts Miracle Gro Company - Bayer Crop Science - Aqua Aid, Inc. - Anuvia - GeoJava - Agricen - American Plant Food - Helena, Inc. 30 undergraduate and 4 graduate students in Dept. of Soil & Crop Science. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?-USDA NIFA Specialty Crops Research Initiative ($150,000 over 4 years 2016-2019): Reagan Hejl (PhD Student and Technician); Syed Ahmed (Research Assistant); Bruce Vento (Research Assistant) -USGA Sandcapping Projects ($200,000 over 3 years, 2018-2021): Will Bowling (MS Student); Reagan Hejl (PhD Student); Damian Michelawicz, Bailey Simmons, Walker Monroe, Garrison Moczembika (Undergrad students) -Texas A&M AgriLife/ Texas Engineering Experiment Station Waterseed Project ($200,000 over 2 years, 2016-2017): Tomas Reyes (Undergrad student), Reagan Hejl (Technician-SCSC) -Scotts Miracle-Gro/ The Lawn Institute Runoff Project ($40,000 over 2 years): Baoxin Chang (PhD student), Brianna Houser (Undergrad Student) -Spent Coffee Grounds Research- Garrett Flores (M.S. Student) How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?- Crop Science Society of America International Meetings (October 2019- San Antonio, TX) - Golf Course Superintendents Assn. of America Annual Meetings (February 2019- San Diego, CA) - NIMSS SERA-IEG Turf Meeting- (June 2019- Griffin, GA) - Texas Turfgrass Assn. Summer Meeting- (June 2019- College Station, TX) - Texas Turfgrass Assn. Winter Meeting- (December 2019- Corpus Christie, TX) What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?I plan to build and culminate collaborative relationships with industry and faculty to meet the objectives of the ongoing research projects and see graduate research programs to completion. Interact with other faculty from across the country at regional and national meetings, as well as to engage industry stakeholders to identify problems and develop research programs to address these issues.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? My research program has grown and continues to collaborate with faculty across a range of disciplines including Agricultural and Mechanical Engineering, Urban Water Quality, Horticulture, Weed Science, Turfgass Pathology, Soil Physics, Soil Fertility, and Turfgrass breeding. I also work closely with our new Turfgrass Extension specialist, Rebecca Grubbs to deliver scientific findings to our industry clientele and citizens of Texas. I currently serve as Co-PI lead physiologist at College Station on a newly funded, 4-yr. USDA-NIFA federally funded Specialty Crops Research Initiative project involving collaboration among faculty from Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Oklahoma State Univ., Univ. of Florida, Univ. of Georgia, N.C. State University, and UC Riverside, also involving industry advisors from groups including USGA Green Section (Mike Kenna, PhD), National Turfgrass Evaluation Program (Kevin Morris), and Turfgrass Producers International (Casey Reynolds). This is the 3rd consecutive USDA SCRI grant the team has received over the past 10 years. The goal of this new project is to determine water requirements (crop and stress coefficients) as well as drought resistance mechanisms of a group of elite warm season turfgrass lines developed through the first two SCRI projects. This multidisciplinary project involves breeders, physiologists, extension, and economists will run 2016-2019. I am also PI on a multi-year Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research Irrigation Innovation Consortium grant (FFAR IIC). This project involves evaluating novel irrigation technologies for landscape water conservation, and is a collaboration with faculty from Colorado State Univ., Kansas State Univ., and Texas A&M Univ. Our contribution to the project is to evaluate irrigation use and runoff as a function of a newly developed ASIS irrigation controller compared to commercially available smart controllers. The work is being conducted on our Urban Runoff Facility at Texas A&M. -I also serve as PI on a multiyear project co-funded by The Lawn Institute as well as Scotts Miracle-Gro, which is evaluating the ecosystem services of various types of urban landscapes following turfgrass removal. The project is being conducted on the Urban Runoff Facility at Texas A&M. I am collaborating with Water Quality colleague Dr. Jacqueline Aitkenhead-Peterson in this project. -I also serve as PI on two (2-yr) Texas Water Resources Institute Water Seed Grant Project involving faculty from Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Texas Engineering Experiment Station (TEES). The first of these two projects involves development of a Camera-Interfaced Irrigation Control Feedback system for lawn and landscape irrigation management. The other of these current projects involve development of and determination of irrigation requirements for native ornamental grasses for urban landscapes. In both projects, we will also work closely with municipalities and water purveyors in the region to better understand feasibility of implementation into actual residential landscapes in the state. I continue to serve as PI on two 3-yr United States Golf Assn. funded projects investigating 1) weather based irrigation scheduling techniques and 2) sodium and organic matter management dynamics related to sand capping on golf course fairways. This project is a collaboration with Texas A&M Soil Physics faculty Dr. Kevin McInnes. -I continue to serve as faculty lead on the Texas A&M/ Scotts Miracle-Gro Joint Management Committee. This group oversees and manages the joint relationship between Scotts Miracle-Gro and Turfgrass Science Program. -I continue to collaborate with Dr. Joseph Young of Tech University in developing and teaching a 4-hr seminar entitled 'Data Driven Irrigation Management'. This course walks superintendents through developing a site-specific Irrigation Budget and use of new technologies for managing irrigation on the golf course. In addition to co-presenting this to over 500 international golf course superintendents from around the world at the 2014-2020 Golf Industry Shows, we have also presented this to the Texas golf course superintendent groups. The course has been well received. I continue also focus on potential use of spent coffee grounds (byproduct produced in large quantities from Cold Brew coffee production) as a topdressing, fertilizer, and/or soil root zone amendment. The work has received worldwide attention, and results have demonstrated very favorable responses as amendment in sand-based root zones. This opens the door to a potential alternative to sphagnum peat moss for use in amending putting green and sports field root zones. Based on our findings, a commercially available lawn fertilizer (GeoJava) and root zone amendment (Command) are now incorporating spent coffee grounds as a component of their products for the lawn/landscape market.

Publications

  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: B. Gouveia, E.F. Rios, J. Airton Rodrigues Nunes, S. Gezan, P.R. Munoz, K.E. Kenworthy, J.B. Unruh, S.R. Milla-Lewis, G.L. Miller, B.M. Schwartz, P.L. Raymer, A. Chandra, B. Wherley, Y. Wu, D.L. Martin, and J.Q. Moss. Across and within-Species Genotype-By-Environment Interaction for Turf Quality Using Germplasm from Five Turfgrass Breeding Programs in the Southeastern United States. ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Meetings.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Y. Wu, D. L. Martin, J. Q. Moss, C. H. Fontanier, N. Walker, A. Chandra, B. Wherley, K. E. Kenworthy, B. Unruh, P. R. Munoz, B. M. Schwartz, P. L. Raymer, F.C. Waltz, S.R. Milla-Lewis, G.L. Miller. Tahoma 31 Bermudagrass: A New Cold Hardy, Drought Resistant and Traffic Tolerant Turf Cultivar. ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Meetings.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: S. Marsh, J. Burke, *B. Chang, J. Aitkenhead-Peterson, B. Wherley, J. Howe. Soil Dynamics of Newly Installed Urban Landscapes. ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Meetings.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: R. Hejl, B. Wherley, K. McInnes, and J. Freill. Moisture Management Approaches for Fairway Sandcapping Systems. ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Meetings. 9. B. Wherley, J. Alvarado, A. Berthold, R. White, J. Aitkenhead-Peterson, K. Brumbelow , *R. Hejl, T. Reyes, and *S. Dahl. 2019. Development of an Autonomous Irrigation System. WaterSmart Innovations Conference. Las Vegas, NV.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: R. Hejl, B. Wherley, K.McInnes, B. Grubbs, and C. Fontanier. Temporal and Spatial Variability in Soil Water Relations of Sand-Capped Fairway Systems. Texas A&M WMHS Water Daze. Mar. 27B. Chang, B. Wherley, and J. Aitkenhead-Peterson. 2019. Environmental Impacts of Landscape Conversions. Texas A&M WMHS Water Daze. Mar. 27.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: B. Wherley, *B. Chang, J. Aitkenhead-Peterson, J. West. Irrigation Chemistry Effects on Tifway Bermudagrass Performance and Nitrogen Uptake. GCM Magazine.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: W. Bowling, B. Wherley, K. McInnes, and C. Segars. Benefits of Sand-Capping. Texas Lawn Companion. July.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: R. Hejl, B. Wherley, K. McInnes, and B. Grubbs. Data-driven irrigation scheduling techniques for sand-capped fairways. Golfdom. In Press
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: W. Bowling, K. McInnes, and B. Wherley. Long-term management dynamics associated with sand-capped fairways. GCM Magazine In Press
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: B. Chang, B. Wherley, and J. Aitkenhead-Peterson. Environmental Impacts and Runoff Dynamics Associated with Turfgrass Removal. The Pallet. Spring Ed.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: B. Chang, B. Wherley, J. West, and J. Aitkenhead-Peterson. Irrigation Salinity effects on Bermudagrass N uptake. Crop Science 59:1-9.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: M. Chavarria, B. Wherley, A. Chandra, and P. Raymer. Salinity Tolerance and Recovery Attributes in Warm-Season Turfgrasses. HortScience 54:9. 1625-1631.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: T. Culpepper, J. Young, D. Montague, D. Sullivan, and B. Wherley. Physiological Maintenance in C3 and C4 Turfgrasses under Combined Heat and Soil Water Deficit. In Press HortScience.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2020 Citation: T. Culpepper, J. Young, and B. Wherley. Comparison of four warm-season turfgrass species to natural rainfall or supplemental irrigation in a semiarid climate. In Press Agrosystems, Geosciences, and Environment.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2020 Citation: T. Culpepper, J. Young, and B. Wherley. Physiological response to water deficit stress with restricted rooting in tall fescue and zoysiagrass. In Press Journal of Environmental Horticulture.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: L. Miller, J. Aitkenhead-Peterson, *B. Chang, and B. Wherley. 2019. Water Extractable Nutrient Chemistry from Two Soil Series: Potential Effect on Runoff Volume and Chemistry. ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Meetings.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: B. Chang, B. Wherley, and J. Aitkenhead-Peterson. Environmental Impacts and Ecosystem Services of Landscape Conversions. ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Meetings.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: W. Bowling, B. Wherley, K. McInnes, and T. Provin. Management of Sodicity and Surface Hydrophobicity in Sand-Capped Fairway Systems. ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Meetings.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: G. Flores, B. Wherley, K. McInnes. Evaluation of Spent Coffee Grounds as an Amendment for USGA Root zones. ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Meetings.