Turfgrass

Michigan Turfgrass Industry Research Priorities

 

  • Water Movement and Nutrient and Pesticide Fate
    • Surface water quality
      • Nutrient and pesticide BMP’s
      • Assessment and tracking tools for nutrients and pesticides within a containing area.
      • Nitrate movement in established turf.
      • Phosphorus movement off established turf areas.
      • Phosphorus loading in surface waters.
    • Water Quantity, Land Use, and Climate Change
      • Integrating turfgrass areas into land-use planning.
      • Integrating non-turfgrass areas to provide sustainable turf development & research spaces.
      • Assessing and maximizing carbon sequestration in turfgrass systems.
      • Assessing regeneration of water usage and tracking nutrient / chemical use.
      • Water Conservation.
      • Cool season turfgrass adaptation to potential climate change and limited irrigation conditions in Michigan.
  • Turfgrass Physiology
    • Abiotic Stresses
      • Plant-microbial interactions
      • Utilizing microbes for plant growth promoting responses/fertility alternatives
      • Plant responses to insects
      • Developing new management strategies to deal with fungicide resistance, especially for dollar spot and anthracnose
    • Tolerance of Abiotic Stresses
      • Water (Drought/Salt/Flooding)
      • Temperature (Heat/Cold)
      • Light (Quantity/Quality)
      • Wear (general wounding and traffic)
      • Winterkill stresses (ice encasement, hypoxia or anoxia, spring freeze/thaws, crown hydration)
      • Responses to stresses relevant to climate change (carbon dioxide levels and others)
    • Physiological responses to chemical treatments
      • Plant growth regulators
      • Other exogenous chemicals to improve abiotic and biotic stress tolerance
  • Integrated Pest Management
      • Turfgrass production systems
        • Irrigation programming / turf establishment – non-soil areas
        • Improved turfgrass / sod production systems
        • Improved turf product availability
        • Subsurface irrigation and fertility of sand-based putting surfaces
        • Refining soil testing recommendations for turfgrass systems
        • Stabilizing technologies for performance/athletic turf systems
      • Pests and Fertility
        • European chafer and Japanese beetle management
        • Fertilizer programming and use within contained areas
        • Weather-based IPM systems.
        • Tools and templates to implement IPM programs.
        • Granular pesticide alternatives to liquid (spray application) of pesticides (efficacy and environmental impact and fate).
  • Education, Job Training and Career Development
      • Develop educational / recruitment programs for grade school and high school individuals with inner city and minority aligned areas to raise awareness of career opportunities in the turfgrass industry.
      • Workforce training.

 

Updated September 2024

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