Impact

NCERA221 Outcomes and Actions to Date with Joint Publications

Outcome 1: Generate quantitative data related to the water and nutrient use (including carbon) for the widely planted turfgrass species and cultivars used for lawns throughout the North Central region. Impact: A greater public awareness of best management practices to responsibly implement supplementary irrigation and fertilization practices for the largest turf acreage, lawns. Additionally, these data will provide information to regulatory groups and policy makers not only in the North Central region but analogous cool-humid region states like those surrounding the Chesapeake Bay and New Jersey which have instituted water and nutrient restrictions.
Actions to date:
  • Michigan State (Frank): Long term nutrient leaching
  • Michigan State (Frank): Nitrogen carrier in three rootzones
  • OSU, MN, MI: Correlation and calibration of the Illinois soil nitrogen test for use as a nitrogen fertility management Tool
  • PU (Bigelow) and other state: Effectiveness of fall nitrogen fertilization based on geographic location
  • PU (Patton): Influence of cultivar selection and clipping return on soil labile carbon and CO2 flux
  • PU (Patton): Influence of turf species on greenhouse gas fluxes
  • Utah (Kopp): Evaluation of climate based irrigation controllers
Outcome 2: Update the suggested list of recommended species and cultivars for very low maintenance use areas in the North Central region. Impact: For very low maintenance areas such as roadside turf, this type of information regarding adapted and persistent turf species is extremely valuable to state highway departments. Ultimately resulting in fewer re-planting needs, less invasive plants, lower maintenance costs and ultimately less taxpayer money being used for roadside maintenance. •
Actions to date:
  • Minnesota (Horgan): Defining low input golf course fairways and putting greens
  • Minnesota (Watkins): marketing low input turfgrasses, breeding rust resistance, fertilizer programs for grass seed production, fine fescues for golf course fairways
  • Southern Illinois: Low input establishment of zoysia
  • Purdue (Bigelow): Maintaining lawn turf with reduced nitrogen inputs
Outcome 3: A list of commercially available bentgrass cultivars highly resistant to dollar spot will be distributed to golf turf mangers. Impact: If selected and this will reduce golf course managers reliance on chemical fungicides for suppression of this problematic disease and provide improved playing conditions. 
Actions to date:
  • NDSU and others: Evaluation of dollar spot in creeping bentgrass.
Outcome 4: A listing of regionally produced and available biological, landscape and industrial-waste materials intended for turf use will be compiled. Impact: The performance and effects of these products on turf areas and soil health will be assessed providing more detailed information to those wishing to manage turf using naturally occurring products. •
Actions to date:
  • Wisconsin: Improving the economic and environmental sustainability of sod production using biosolids
Outcome 5: Professional turf managers will be using computer generated decision aids like the web-based regional growing degree day tracker to determine optimum pesticide application timing. Impact: Improved product efficacy and fewer pesticide applications. 
Actions to date:
  • Michigan:  GDD Tracker-used in MI, IN, IL, OH
  • Michigan Turf Disease: MSUturfdisease.net
  • Purdue Turf Cast
Outcome 6: The feasibility of non-synthetic pesticides for insect, weed and disease suppression or control will be provided as a new management option. Impact: This will result in reduced reliance on synthetic materials for turf pest control and less chance for non-target effects of these materials. a. Milestone: Field assessment of the performance of naturally occurring products like mustard or entomopathogenic nematodes will continue in 2011, with wider regional evaluation and testing in subsequent years.
Actions to date:
  • OSU (Gardner): Natural products for weed and insect control
  • Missouri (Xi): Organic disease control
  • Kansas (St John): Long-term comparison between corn gluten, urea and milorganite for crabgrass control
  • PU (Patton): Organic control of broadleaf weeds
  • PU:  Studies on the influence of Neotyphodium endophytes, Below-ground herbivory and environmental stress on performance of tall fescue and Kentucky bluegrass
  • PU: Influence of nitrogen fertility, surfactants, thatch and the availability of host insects on infectivity and persistence of the entomopathogenic nematode Heterorhabditis bacteriphora
  • PU:  IPM for white grubs on golf courses: clarifying biological and economic trade-offs
  • PU: Improving integration of cultural and biological controls for managing turfgrass insects
  • Refereed Publications
    • Blubaugh, C.K., V.A.Caceres, I. Kaplan, J. Larson, C.S. Sadof and D.S. Richmond. 2011. Ground beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae)  phenology, diversity, and response to weed cover in a turfgrass ecosystem. Environmental Entomology 40: 1093-1101.
    • Baldauf, M.W. W.J. Mace and D.S. Richmond. 2011.  Endophyte-mediated resistance to black cutworm as a function of endophyte strain in tall fescue.  Environmental Entomology 40: 639-647.
Outcome 7: The invasive potential of various turfgrass species in native areas will be assessed and management strategies for the suppression and control of these plants monitored. Impact: Less risk of non-desirable plant species entering native areas and less money being spent on control efforts. a. Milestone: A Wisconsin study has already benchmarked the plant populations in some local areas. As early as 2011 similar areas in surrounding states may also participate.
Actions to date:

Outcome 8: Suppression and reductions in annual bluegrass populations in recreational turf areas. Impact: Improved persistence and performance of more desirable turf species and less money being spent disease control, irrigation and fertilizer needs on this less persistent species. a. Milestone: Field screening of commercially available industry standard annual bluegrass suppression/control products will continue. The emergence of novel chemical products will be assessed for their efficacy and safety when applied to turf areas.
Actions to date:
  • MO: Evaluation of methiozolin safety and efficacy applied as pre- or post-emergence herbicide
  • PU: Putting green annual bluegrass population dynamics as affected by flurprimidol, fertilizer and soil surfactants
  • PU, NE: Timing and rate of methiozolin for greens height annual bluegrass control
  • IL, NE: Ami+Meso for controlling annual bluegrass in KBG/PRYE fairways
  • NE, PU, MI: Controlling Poa annua on putting green height turf in Indiana, Michigan, and Nebraska
  • NE, IA: Summer interseeding and aggressive post-seeding herbicides to reduce annual bluegrass in fairways
  • NE, IL: Amicarbazone and mesotrione for annual bluegrass control (NE, IL)
  • Kentucky: Identification and management of annual bluegrass biotypes on golf greens
  • NE, PU, IL: Systems approach to Poa annua control on putting greens in Indiana, Illinois, and Nebraska
Outcome 9: A comprehensive list of outreach publications containing information related to turfgrass management in the North Central region will be developed. Impact: This single location of turfgrass management topics will enable those searching for fact-based information on turf management to easily find content appropriate for their situation and more quickly implement best management practices. a. Milestone: The list of state outreach publications regarding turfgrass management is currently being compiled. This list will be located and accessible on the NCERA-192 website.




Joint Publications (since 2012)
  1. Bauer, S., B.P. Horgan, E. Watkins, A. Hathaway, R. Calhoun, and K. Frank.  2012.  Establishment of creeping bentgrass in annual bluegrass fairways using glyphosate and interseeding. Online. Applied Turfgrass Science doi:10.1094/ATS-2012-0127-01-RS.
  2. Bushman, B.S., Warnke, S.E., Amundsen, K.L., Combs, K.M., Johnson P. (2013). Molecular markers highlight variation within and among Kentucky bluegrass varieties and accessions. Crop Science. 53(5):2245-2254.
  3. Gardner, D.S., B.P. Horgan and B.J. Horvath.  2013.  Spatial variability of soil amino sugar nitrogen on golf course fairways.  Int. Turfgrass Journal.  12:545-551.
  4. Han, L., D. Li, W. Fang, Y. Wang, and R. Gaussoin. 2012. Analysis of soil chemical properties of sand-based turfgrass rootzone using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis. 43:2709-2721. DOI: 10.1080/00103624.2012.719981
  5. Honig, J.A., C. Kubik, M. Majewski, C. Poulsen, E. Weibel, K. Amundsen, S.E. Warnke, W.A. Meyer, S.A. Bonos. 2013. A PCR-based linkage map of Agrostis stolonifera and identification of QTL markers for dollar spot resistance. Mol. Gen. Genet. (accepted)
  6. Kennelly, M. O’Mara, J., Rivard,C., Miller, G.L., and Smith, D. 2012.  Introduction to abiotic disorders in plants.  The Plant Health Instructor. Online publication.  DOI: 10.1094/PHI-I-2012-10-229-01.
  7. Klingenberg, M.T., D.Li, N.E. Christians, and C.J. Blume. 2013. Core aeration programs and sand topdressing improve creeping bentgrass fairways. Intern. Turfgrass Soc. Res. J. 12:151-156.
  8. Law, Q.D., M.A. Jones, A. J. Patton, and N. E. Christians. 2013. Influence of an amino acid complex on the growth of Agrostis stolonifera L. cv. Penncross. International Turfgrass Journal.  12:
  9. McMillan, M.F., S. Kostka, T. Boerth, C.A. Bigelow, J.Cisar, D. Soldat, A. Van Dyke, I. Karas, and K. Williams. 2013. Monitoring seasonal soil water repellancy in USA golf course putting greens. Intl. Turf Soc. Res. J. 12:815-818.
  10. Sousek,M.D., R.E. Gaussoin, A.J. Patton, D.V. Weisenberger, and Z.J. Reicher. 2014.Weed control and turf safety of single and sequential applications of herbicides over spring seedings. Appl. Turfgrass Sci.doi:10.2134/ATS-2013-0046-RS.
  11. St. John, R. A.; Christians, N. E.; Liu, H.; Menchyk, N. A. 2013. Secondary nutrients and micronutrient fertilization.  In: Stier, John C.; Horgan, Brian P.; Bonos, Stacy A.; Schmitt, Gail K., eds. Turfgrass: Biology, Use, and Management. Madison, Wisconsin: American Society of Agronomy. p. 521-543.
  12. Stier, J.C., B.P. Horgan and S.A. Bonos (ed).  1328 pp.  2013.  Turfgrass: biology, use and management.  Agronomy Society of America Book Series.  Agronomy Monograph No. 56.  Madison, WI. 
  13. Thompson, C., J. Fry, M. Kennelly, M. Sousek, and Z Reicher. 2014. Seasonal Timing of Glyphosate Application Influences Control of Poa trivialis. Online. Applied Turfgrass Science. doi: 10.2134/ATS-2013-0044-BR. 
  14. Wang, Y., W. Fang, D. Li, and R. Gaussoin. 2013. Soil chemical properties of golf greens affected by age, initial construction and establishment. Int. Turfgrass Soc. Res. J. 12:p. 539-544.
  15. Watkins, E, S. Fei, D. Gardner, J. Stier, S. Bughrara, D. Li, C. Bigelow, L. Schliecher, B. Horgan and K. Diesburg. 2011. Low-input turfgrass species for the north central United States. Online. Applied Turfgrass Science doi:10.1094/ATS-2011-0126-02-RS.
  16. Watkins, E., D.S. Gardner, J.C. Stier, D.J. Soldat, R.A. St. John, N.E. Christians, A.D. Hathaway, K.L. Diesburg, S.R. Poppe, R.E. Gaussoin.  2014. Cultivar performance of low-input turfgrass species for the North Central United States. Applied Turfgrass Science. doi:10.2134/ATS-2013-0101-RS.
  17. Xiong, X., K. Diesburg, and D. T. Lloyd. 2013. Application of glufosinate on dormant zoysiagrass (Zoysia japonica) turf. HortScience. 48: 785-789. 
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