News Agronomy
University of Guelph awarded OTRF funding for three research projects

The University of Guelph has been awarded grants for three research projects by the Ontario Turfgrass Research Foundation.

The grants help to advance the turf industry with products, practices, and enhancements for sports fields, public parks, residential lawns, golf courses, and municipal green spaces.

The University of Guelph projects include:

• Investigation in the management of take-all patch in Ontario and Canada. Dr. Katerina Jordan. With the recent identification of the G cylinrosporus pathogen of the bentgrass patch disease, this project’s goal is to work on developing a long-term management strategy for take-all disease with an emphasis on management in high soil pH environments.

• Evaluation of overseeding sports fields with new species and cultivars: Dr. Eric Lyons. Overuse of sports fields is a tough challenge for turf managers maintaining ideal field conditions in northern climates. Researchers will evaluate the use of tall fescues and quick-germinating Kentucky bluegrass in overseeding programs under heavy field traffic conditions compared to traditional overseeding with perennial ryegrass.

• Testing probiotics to reduce nitrogen fertilizer & water usage in turfgrasses Dr. Manish Raizada. Probiotic microbes for turf represent potential technologies to reduce the use of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer and water on turf areas by improving nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and water usage.

The OTRF is also funding a fourth project, to be conducted at Oregon State University by Dr. Alec Kowalewski. The project is an evaluation of stress response characteristics facilitated by endophytes in commercially available perennial ryegrass, tall fescue and fine fescue cultivars. Findings from this project will identify endophyte populations within commercially available perennial ryegrass, tall fescue, and fine fescue species and give turf managers a clearer picture of how endophytes can improve turf quality and stress tolerance.