Sustainable fairway management

Summary

Development of more sustainable fairway management requires a reduction in the energy and workload spent on mowing and irrigation, while at the same time maintaining optimal turfgrass quality and playability. Syngenta’s soil surfactant Qualibra and the plant growth regulator Primo Maxx II can help drive fairway management in a more sustainable direction.

A 2x2x2 factorial trial with four blocks comprising two irrigation levels (unirrigated and irrigated to field capacity once a week); with and without Qualibra (20 L in an application volume of 800 L/ha every four weeks); and with and without Primo Maxx II (1.0 L in an application volume of 400 L/ha every three weeks) was established on a recently sown fairway on a sandy soil (field capacity 25 vol% water, botanical composition 52% red fescue, 42% smooth meadowgrass (Poa pratensis) and 6% annual meadowgrass (P. annua)) at Landvik, Norway. The fairway is mown to 15 mm twice a week, exposed to wear/compaction from a wear machine with golf spikes, and receives controlled-release fertiliser every six weeks for a total nitrogen input of 9.6 g/m2.

Preliminary observations from 2016 indicate significantly darker turf (measured with a SPAD chlorophyll meter), a 24% reduction in clippings yield and a 23% reduction in nitrogen removal in clippings due to Primo Maxx II. Turfgrass height growth in 2016 was bimodal, with the main reduction due to the plant growth regulator occurring in May/early June and late August/September. Qualibra increased the average concentration of nitrogen in turfgrass clippings from 3.35 to 3.45 %, but otherwise had only small effects due to higher than normal rainfall during most of the growing season.

The project is being carried under the industrial partnership agreement between STERF and Syngenta.

Project participants

Trygve S. Aamlid

Head of Research

Norwegian Institute for Bioeconomy (NIBIO), Department for Urban Greening and Environmental Technology, Turfgrass Research Group, Landvik, Reddalsveien 215, 4886 Grimstad, Norway.

+47 90 52 83 78

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