North Carolina Turfgrass - September / October 2020

September/October 2020

A Publication of the Turfgrass Council of North Carolina

GROW WATER SAVINGS UNIVERSITY SCIENTISTS

with DROUGHT-TOLERANT TURFGRASS

The ResistPoa Project Enters A New Phase

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1-888-360-1125 Cary 1900 NC Hwy. 55 Cary, NC 27519 919-836-0492

Charlotte 12600 Downs Circle Pineville, NC 28134 704-525-8873

Hendersonville 583 Jeffress Rd. Mills River, NC 28759 828-681-5000

Mooresville 1060 River Highway Mooresville, NC, 28117 980-444-2347

Raleigh 1225 Farmers Market Drive, Box 19 Raleigh, NC 27603 919-836-0492

12 18 table of contents September/October 2020

More Features:

12 Feature Article

The ResistPoa Project Enters A New Phase

18 Cover Story

University Scientists Grow Water Savings with Drought-Tolerant Turfgrass

From the President TCNC Deluxe Members Welcome, New Members NC State Turf Team Calendar of Events Index of Advertisers

6 8 9 10 10 11

FIND THIS ISSUE, PODCASTS, EVENTS AND MORE: THETURFZONE.COM 4 North Caro lina Turf gra ss

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From the President

North Carolina Turfgrass is the official publication of the Turfgrass Council of North Carolina 110 Horizon Drive Suite 210 Raleigh, NC 27615 919.459.2070 Fax 919.459.2075 www.ncturfgrass.org

EVERYONE

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

STAY SAFE I

had hoped by my next letter we would have made more progress with our nation’s pandemic. However, there are still many challenges as we try to get control of this problem that we all are dealing with. I hope everyone is doing all they can to be safe and mindful of the safety of others.

According to turf professionals I have spoken with around the state, by most accounts, both the turfgrass and landscape industries are doing well. Golf Courses are having one of the best years ever as are turf maintenance professionals and lawncare. Many people are spending more time outdoors and realizing the joy and beauty of a professionally maintained lawn, golf course and parks that add so much to their wellbeing.

I would like to make our members aware of a program called Green Care for Troops.

They are in need of volunteers. This is a great program of helping deployed soldiers and disabled veterans. This program allows those of us in the Green Industry to use our skills to help others that haven given so much to our country. I have participated in the program and it is one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. If you would like to help please visit www.projectevergreen.org, you will be glad you did.

I would like to thank all our turf professionals for making the world a better place.

Everyone stay safe.

Marcy Cottle IMI Association Executives info@ncturfgrass.org 919.459.2070 Published by: Leading Edge Communications, LLC 206 Bridge Street Franklin, TN 37064 615.790.3718 Fax 615.794.4524 info@leadingedge communications.com

TCNC OFFICERS PRESIDENT Gene Queen Nature's Select Winston Salem, NC

VICE PRESIDENT Kevin Herrmann Fairway Green Inc. Raleigh, NC

PAST PRESIDENT Damon Dean Keith Hills Country Club Lillington, NC

TREASURER Jonathan Richardson, NCCTP NCCTP Chairman Green Resource Dunn, NC

Best Regards,

DIRECTORS

Gene Queen

Dean Baker Kinston, NC

TCNC President

Wilson Sutton Falling Creek Golf Club Kinston, NC Andrew Wampler Southern Ag Hendersonville, NC

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TCNC Deluxe Members Companies wishing to support TCNC with multiple members can join as Deluxe Members.

Deluxe Memberships can be purchased in one of three tiers: 1–5 employees; 6–10 employees; or 11+ employees.

If you'd like to learn more about the Deluxe Membership, please contact the TCNC office at (919) 459-2070 or info@ncturfgrass.org.

Thank You to Our DELUXE MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS

The Biltmore Company

Fayetteville Technical Community College

SiteOne Landscape Supply

Barefoot & Associates Inc.

Givens Estates

Smith Turf & Irrigation

Green Resource Buy Sod Inc

Sod Solutions Inc. JRM Inc.

Carolina Farm Credit

Southern Ag Keith Hills Country Club

Carolina Green Corp.

Southern Seeds Inc Leap Frog Landcare Inc.

City of Raleigh Parks & Recreation The Club at Longview Country Boy Landscaping Inc

McConnell Golf LLC

Town of Cary Public Works

Nature's Select Premium Turf Services

Turf Mountain Sod Inc

North Carolina A&T State University

UNCG

Dixie Lawn Care LLC

Vandemark Farms LLC

Duke University

Pennington Seed – ProTurf Division

Fairway Green

Quality Turf SAS Institute Inc.

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Vereens Turf Products Wake Forest University

New Members Kelly Setzer Eastern Crop and Turf Services Snow Hill, NC

Bob Roth Cary, NC

Jerry Sroka J&L Landscaping Inc Raleigh, NC

Danny Jones Syngenta Lawrenceville, NC

Alex Von Hoene Specialty Turf Solutions Clayton, NC

Gary Wood Wood Lawn and Landscaping Newport, NC

Shaun Kerr Gates Four Golf and Country Club Fayetteville, NC

Henry Abernathy Methodist University Fayetteville, NC

Josh Gardner Nature’s Select Piedmont Greensboro, NC

Brandon McKenzie Town of Southern Pines Aberdeen, NC

Stuart Smith Fayetteville Technical Community College Fayetteville, NC

Jason Nugent Fayetteville Technical Community College Fayetteville, NC

John McLean Fayetteville Technical Community College Fayetteville, NC

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NC State Turf Team

Upcoming Events

CROP AND SOIL SCIENCES Dr. Richard Cooper Professor 919.515.7600 rich_cooper@ncsu.edu

Dr. Susana Milla-Lewis Associate Professor 919.515.3196 susana_milla-lewis@ncsu.edu

Emily Erickson Lecturer 919.513.2034 emily_erickson@ncsu.edu

Dr. Grady Miller Professor & Extension Specialist 919.515.5656 grady_miller@ncsu.edu

Dr. Travis Gannon Assistant Professor 919.515.2647 travis_gannon@ncsu.edu

Dr. Thomas Rufty Jr. Professor 919.515.3660 tom_rufty@ncsu.edu Dr. Wei Shi Professor 919.513.4641 wei_shi@ncsu.edu

Dr. Charles Peacock Professor 919.515.3667 charles_peacock@ncsu.edu

Matt Martin Extension Associate, Turfgrass 910675.2314 matthew_martin@ncsu.edu

Dr. Fred Yelverton Professor & Extension Specialist 919.515.5639 fred_yelverton@ncsu.edu

Dr. Rongda Qu Professor 919.515.7616 rongda_qu@ncsu.edu

ENTOMOLOGY AND PLANT PATHOLOGY Dr. Terri Billeisen Extension Associate 919.515.7464 tlhoctor@ncsu.edu

Lee Butler Extension Coordinator 919.513.3878 elbutler@ncsu.edu

Dr. Rick Brandenburg Wm. Neal Reynolds Professor 919.515.8876 rick_brandenburg@ncsu.edu

Dr. James Kerns Associate Professor 919.513.4820 jpkerns@ncsu.edu

Dr. Rob Richardson Associate Professor & Extension Specialist 919.515.5653 rob_richardson@ncsu.edu

HORTICULTURE SCIENCE Dr. Danesha Seth Carley Director, Southern IPM Center & Associate Professor 919.513.8189 danesha_carley@ncsu.edu

Mark your calendar and save these dates!

NOVEMBER 16 – 18, 2020

Carolinas GCSA Conference and Trade Show Moved to Virtual Platform

JANUARY 11 – 15, 2021 Green and Growin’ Greensboro, NC

For event updates throughout the year stay tuned to

ncturfgrass.org To discuss

The Turfgrass Council of North Carolina (TCNC) serves its members in the industry through education, promotion and representation. The statements and opinions expressed herein are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the association, its staff, or its board of directors, North Carolina Turfgrass, or its editors. Likewise, the appearance of advertisers, or TCNC members, does not constitute an endorsement of the products or services featured in this, past or subsequent issues of this bimonthly publication. Copyright © 2020 by the Turfgrass Council of North Carolina. North Carolina Turfgrass is published bi-monthly. Subscriptions are complimentary to members of TCNC. Presorted standard postage is paid at Jefferson City, MO. Printed in the U.S.A. Reprints and Submissions: North Carolina Turfgrass allows reprinting of material published here. Permission requests should be directed to TCNC. We are not responsible for unsolicited freelance manuscripts and photographs. Contact the managing editor for contribution information. Advertising: For display and classified advertising rates and insertions, please contact Leading Edge Communications, LLC, 206 Bridge Street, Franklin, TN 37064, 615.790.3718, Fax 615.794.4524.

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ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIES, contact Leading Edge Communications:

615.790.3718 888.707.7141 sales@leadingedgecommunications.com www.LeadingEdgeCommunications.com

Index of Advertisers Beam Clay.....................................................22 www.BEAMCLAY.com • www.PARTAC.com Buy Sod, Inc........................ Inside Back Cover www.buysod.com Carolina Green Corp.....................................11 www.cgcfields.com Carolina Turf Farms, Inc...............................21 carolinaturffarms.com Divots, Inc.....................................................11 www.divotssand.com Green Resource............................. Back Cover www.green-resource.com Kesmac..........................................................17 www.brouwerkesmac.com Leading Edge Communications....................16 www.LeadingEdgeCommunications.com Mid-Atlantic STIHL..........................................5 www.stihldealers.com Modern Turf, Inc.............................................9 www.modernturf.com

DIG ITAL MAR KE TPL A C E Download your favorite QR reader to your phone, and scan the code to learn more about these companies.

Morgan Sand Company................................14 morgansandco.com Progressive Turf Equipment Inc.....................7 www.progressiveturfequip.com Smith Seed Services......................................11 www.smithseed.com

Andy Rushing

Southern Seeds, Inc........................................9 www.southernseedsinc.com

arushing@cgcfields.com Phone: (704) 634-9799 Toll Free – Office: (866) 753-1707

www.cgcfields.com Southern Specialty Equipment.....................22 www.ssequip.net Super-Sod........................................................3 www.supersod.com The Turfgrass Group.... Inside Front Cover, 15 www.theturfgrassgroup.com Turf Mountain Sod, Inc.................................11 www.turfmountain.com Vandemark Farms...........................................7 www.vandemarkfarms.com

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Feature Story

The ResistPoa THE

PROJECT

ENTERS A NEW PHASE

By Jay McCurdy, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Mississippi State University

ResistPoa project seeks new and innovative strategies that help practitioners make informed decisions regarding annual bluegrass (Poa annua) control. The project is funded by a $5.6 million United States Department of Agriculture – Specialty Crop Research Initiative (USDA-SCRI) grant and involves 16 universities as well as their research laboratories and lab members. This is one of only a few federally funded turfgrass projects in the nation, and we’re grateful to reviewers and stakeholders who were involved in its selection.

Our objectives are to characterize nationwide distribution of herbicide resistant annual bluegrass, seek out new and novel means of control, and identify socio-economic constraints that affect practitioner behavior.

The project is now in its second year. We are proud to have teamed up with Leading Edge Communications to bring our stakeholders an update through a series of podcasts and written communications.

PHOTO 1: The ResistPoa team includes researchers from Texas A&M, University of Tennessee, Mississippi State, University of Georgia, North Carolina State, Clemson, University of Florida, Rutgers, Purdue, Virginia Tech, Penn State, University of Arizona, Portland State, Oregon State and Auburn.

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Our Challenge

As a turfgrass weed, annual bluegrass’s color and texture are an aesthetic problem. It disrupts athletic performance as well as ball roll. It can survive and reproduce at almost any mowing height. It results in thinned and vulnerable turfgrass stands.

Practitioners and researchers alike find that controlling and managing it seems to be more art than it is science.

As an industry, we too quickly start our conversations regarding annual bluegrass by discussing chemical control options, but any astute turfgrass manager knows that we can’t keep doing the same things if they’re not working. We must also acknowledge societal and economic variables that influence our decision making. David Ervin at Portland State University and George Frisvold at University of Arizona are doing just that. Socio-economic investigations are collecting data through the use of focus groups and surveys. This approach challenges us to look beyond chemical control as a single dimension solution. Jim Brosnan from the University of Tennessee says: “This is the first time that I’ve been involved in an effort that is really trying to get at the sociological piece, the human element or decision-making piece of what we do. And my hope is that by trying to understand those dynamics, it’s going to make the solutions that come from the research easier to adapt.”

Beyond chemical control strategies, a critical objective of the ResistPoa project is to develop sound best management practices (BMPs) based upon a better understanding of the ecology and biology of annual bluegrass. “[W]hat it’s going to do is expand our knowledge a little bit better on those aspects of Poa annua control that are now solely dependent on which synthetic herbicide to spray today or tomorrow or next week,” says Shawn Askew from Virginia Tech. “We’re looking more at the biology of the weed and trying to exploit its weaknesses.”

Controlling annual bluegrass requires a diversified approach, incorporating proper cultural practices that favor the desired turfgrass species, appropriate herbicide application timings and combinations that account for known resistance issues.

Another objective is to understand seed production and seedling germination. Given adequate soil temperature and moisture, annual bluegrass seed germinate and establish relatively quickly. The project seeks to understand this through a series of experiments.

In ongoing studies, investigators at Georgia, Mississippi, Penn State, Purdue, and Tennessee have been studying the effects of growing degree day (GDD) accumulation on annual bluegrass seed formation and subsequent germination. In 2019 and 2020, we tracked GDD accumulation from January 1 through flowering and eventual seed ripening. Across sites, it appears that seed germination rates rise rapidly after 1,250 GDD (base 32°F) accumulation and that the highest germination rates occur for seed retained longest on the plant. Ongoing experiments at Texas A&M, Auburn, Clemson, Tennessee, Oregon State, Purdue, and Rutgers also seek to determine the effects of seed burial and persistence as well as seedling emergence patterns. Those efforts are complemented by studies investigating seedling emergence (led by researchers at Penn State) and other studies evaluating fraze-mowing as a mechanical means of depleting the soil seed bank (at Tennessee and Florida).

A Long-Rooted History: Poa Annua Through the Years Annual bluegrass (Poa annua) is a troublesome weed in managed landscapes and crops, alike. It is one of the most widespread in the world. In fact, it has been reported on every continent, including Antarctica (Olech, 1996). Annual bluegrass is thought to have resulted from a cross between weak bluegrass (Poa infirma) and creeping meadow-grass (Poa supina) perhaps 2.5 million years ago during the interglacial ice age periods on the European continent.

More recently, these two parent species have been shown to cross quite readily (Tutin, 1957).

Annual bluegrass is an annual comprised of numerous biotypes or “populations” – many of which are capable of perennating, meaning that they may exist in a vegetative state throughout the year, all along reproducing through aggressive tillering and seed production. Though perennial biotypes are much less common than annual biotypes, they tend to occur in frequently mown or grazed scenarios in temperate climates with adequate year-round soil moisture.

Poa in ancient Greek means ‘fodder’; therefore, it should come as no surprise that temperate, cool-season pastures of the old-world have historically been comprised of at least some Poa species, including annual bluegrass and Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis).

In the temperate environments of England, Poa annua is in fact referred to as annual meadow-grass, while Kentucky bluegrass is called smooth meadow-grass.

Annual bluegrass has been a research interest since the early 1900’s. An often-cited early publication concerning annual bluegrass control was published by the USGA Green Section in 1922 – “How we controlled Poa annua at Old Elm.” This introspective piece is part self-congratulatory, part admission of defeat. It’s easy to find and well worth the read.

In our interviews with co-authors, one thing is clear: annual bluegrass isn’t going anywhere. We’re just trying to keep up. The ResistPoa project has a unique role to play. John Kaminski, a Penn State investigator, summed this up well: “This has been a long battle that people have dealt with, and I don’t think we’re going to solve all those battles, but by consolidating all the people from various geographic regions that really have different management styles and practices based on where they’re located, I think we’re going to be able to come up with concentrated information for people managing turf in specific regions. I think that hasn’t been done before.”

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Feature Story | continued

Herbicide resistance

One of the most comprehensive objectives of the ResistPoa project is a national survey of herbicide resistant annual bluegrass. This has proven to be a challenging objective. With more than 30 researchers

involved, we have standardized procedures for population collection and developed workflows that keep whole greenhouses of plants alive at more than a dozen locations. We have developed techniques for rapid screening of an unprecedented

PHOTO 2: Poa annua survives where few others can.

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number of annual bluegrass populations.

Our findings will be made relevant through the development of a userfriendly decision-support tool that helps facilitate herbicide mode of action rotation, as well as the incorporation of effective cultural practices.

To date, we have screened more than 1,500 annual bluegrass samples for postemergence resistance to the following herbicide modes/sites of action (and respective herbicides): • 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvatedioxygenase or HPPD (mesotrione) • 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase or ESPS (glyphosate) • acetolactate-synthase or ALS (trifloxysulfuron, foramsulfuron, and others) • glutamine synthetase (glufosinate) • microtubule assembly (pronamide) • photosystem I (diquat) • photosystem II (simazine) And preemergence resistance to the following herbicide modes/sites of action: • inhibition of cell wall biosynthesis (indaziflam) • microtubule assembly (prodiamine and pronamide) In year 1 of our study, we identified suspected resistance to many sites of action studied. Most of the resistant populations were from southern states. Of 776 samples collected in winter of 2018/2019 from Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia, 13% were suspected resistant to ALS-inhibiting herbicides, 8% to glyphosate, 5% to simazine applied postemergence, 3% to pronamide applied postemergence, and 5% to microtubule synthesis inhibitors applied preemergence.

Our work analyzing for herbicide resistance has only just begun. Suspected resistant populations that escaped preliminary screens of labelled rates are now moving though secondary rate-response screens to confirm and quantify resistance. Confirmed resistant populations will then move through target-site resistance screens at Auburn, where researchers will analyze for mutations within the genetic sequence for targeted enzymes. Unique cases (for instance, populations with multipleherbicide-resistance) will then be screened for non-target site resistance by researchers at North Carolina and Georgia.

Bet on the Right Horse

TifTuf is 38% more drought tolerant than other bermudas based on USDA drought stress trials.

*TifTuf topped Tahoma 31 every single year in NTEP drought stress trials.

*TifTuf placed in the top NTEP trial categories 93% of the time. Tahoma 31 a distant 73% finish.

TifTuf the Clear Winner, Running Away. www.THETURFGRASSGROUP.com * (NTEP) National Turfgrass Evaluation Program

Feature Story | continued

Find out more

The best way to keep track of our results is by monitoring our @ResistPoa Twitter handle. We’re posting updates and retweeting relevant information there. The website ResistPoa.org is a handy tool for stakeholders. We have included a search function that allows folks to look for published information by State, Turf Type, and Control Method. There are educational videos and a repository of webinar recordings. We’ll be adding a decision support tool over time. This tool should account for herbicide application history, site/mode of action, and much more.

We look forward to sharing knowledge and best management strategies with you in the future.

For more information, please visit ResistPoa.org, follow us on Twitter (@ResistPoa), and listen to podcasts at the TheTurfZone.com.

References Alexander, W. A. 1922. How we controlled Poa annua at Old Elm. Bulletin of the Green Section of the USGA 2(7): 213-214.

Olech, M. 1996. Human impact on terrestrial ecosystems in west Antarctica. In Proceedings of the NIPR Symposium on Polar Biology (pp. 299-306). National Institute of Polar Research.

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PHOTO 3: ResistPoa.org offers resources for turf managers.

3A (Top): The tools tab provides links to support best management practices for controlling annual bluegrass.

3B (Bottom): The search feature allows visitors to find targeted information using filters for turf type, control method and state.

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Cover Story

University Scientists

Grow Water Savings with Drought-Tolerant Turfgrass

By Jennifer Howard Editor’s note: COVID-19 restrictions have dramatically impacted research activities. See our update at the end of the story on how researchers are adapting to current social distancing requirements.

W

hich half of your landscape water use is wasted? Experts estimate that more than 50% of our outdoor irrigation goes to waste – even more in dry years and dry climates. Our landscape watering habits are the primary culprit in this overflow. It’s a big issue. The typical suburban homeowner irrigates an estimated 10,000 gallons of water each year, primarily aimed at their lawn. Conserving our freshwater supply is essential for long term sustainability.

Saving Water & Turf’s Benefits Turfgrasses occupy over 30 million acres in the U.S. It’s tempting to assume that eliminating our outdoor grass carpeting could solve the water demand problem. But it’s not so simple.

Turf provides substantial environmental and economic benefits in our landscape. It mitigates heat around our homes, stabilizes soil against erosion, provides safe play space, and reduces noise, glare, and pollution. Eliminating turf would create a whole new set of environmental challenges.

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A network of turfgrass researchers from six major universities, including NC State, is solving this dilemma by developing turfgrasses that are attractive and healthy with minimal water.

NC State Leads New Research The National Institute of Food and Agriculture recently approved a specialty crops grant to continue the multiuniversity group’s work producing drought-tolerant warmseason turfgrasses. The team (32 scientists strong) has collaborated for nine years with a rotating leadership structure. NC State’s Susana Milla-Lewis will be at the helm in their new phase of study. “Our 2010 and 2015 projects were crucial in the development of drought-tolerant turfgrass cultivars. The levels of improvement of these grasses are promising and validate the need to promote adoption, continue cultivar research, and develop tools that facilitate the breeding process,” Milla-Lewis said.

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PHOTO 1: Residential sprinkler system in Cary PHOTO 2: Milla-Lewis’s team reviews test plots in 2019 PHOTO 3: MS Student Greta Rockstad makes turfgrass crosses in the greenhouse

Early Season Success The team of turf researchers’ work has focused on selecting and testing drought-tolerant cultivars of four of the most economically important warm-season turfgrass species in the southern US. By exchanging plant materials and data among university breeders, turf varieties are tested under many climatic conditions, and the results accumulate quickly “The collaboration among breeders across such different environments is priceless,” Milla-Lewis said. “It helps us select better lines with more performance stability because they have been tested against a wide range of weather conditions like drought and cold as well as an array of pests and diseases.”

The team has already released six new drought-tolerant varieties from previous project phases including two bermudagrasses (‘TifTuf’ and ‘Tahoma 31’), two St. Augustine grasses (‘TamStar’ and ‘CitraBlue’), and two forthcoming zoysiagrass varieties.

1

Growing Tough ‘TifTuf’, a University of Georgia release, alone has achieved massive success. The team’s research demonstrated a 40% water savings over the leading bermudagrass, without loss of turf quality. This convincing research data has led to the rapid acceptance of TifTuf within the sod industry – representing a six-fold return in gross earnings compared to the grant investment.

With tangible success already, what will the next research phase include? More trials with new avenues to share and test them. Plant breeding is a long-range game, 10–15 years in most cases. The group has already evaluated over 2,500 potential varieties in their nine years together. Now Milla-Lewis and team are intent on warping this speed with new technology.

Tackling Turf Technology The group’s next phase of research will integrate tech specialists using drones and remote sensing devices to provide real-time feedback on plant stress – a plant breeder’s dream. But how does a robot sense plant stress?

Drones equipped with specialized sensors will be programmed to fly missions over the test plots to detect changes in turf color, ideally even before visible to the human eye. By measuring color change over time resulting from turf stress, researchers can rank the highest performers and concentrate on those showing the greatest genetic potential.

Technology also brings objectivity to plant breeding. Instead of researchers assigning a visual grade of 1-9 on turfgrass color, the drone sensors capture a binary “stress/no stress” assessment.

It’s black or white – or brown or green in this case. Removing human bias will result in standardized scoring – important when measurements are taken across hundreds of plots at each of the six universities. Because who’s to say someone’s turf score of a 6 in Raleigh is the same 6 as someone’s in Texas?

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Cover Story | continued

Using autonomous data collection, breeders can measure more traits, evaluate more trials – and even more varieties at a time. Increasing the volume of data generated in a short timeframe speeds the plant breeding process by weeding out

low performing options. Researchers call it ‘high throughput phenotyping” and it promises to deliver fast feedback for a streamlined selection funnel. Greater testing volume into the research pipeline means better outcomes with the most resilient samples.

Consumer Education Despite the team’s field research success, Milla-Lewis’s group recognized that improved varieties can’t deliver their inherent benefits if end users don’t adapt their lawn care. So the project’s phase III incorporates a significant extension and consumer outreach plan spearheaded by Jason Peake at the University of Georgia.

The nationwide campaign will include broadcast media, a consumer decision tool website and printed marketing pieces all aimed at educating consumers on why they should choose a drought-tolerant grass and, importantly, how to properly manage it to reap all the benefits. After all, a new lawn doesn’t come with a care tag.

4A PHOTO 4A: UAV on turfgrass.

PHOTO 4B: Drone image of turf plots.

4B

5

Industry Involvement This new wave of consumer outreach will complement traditional extension activities such as field days and demonstration turf plots at public locations like municipal buildings (including NC State’s forthcoming N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative building – Photo 5).

These opportunities will reach industry professionals like landscapers, contractors, and sod-producers who are often the decision-makers in turfgrass variety selection. NC State turfgrass extension specialist Grady Miller says it’s not enough just to put new varieties out. “Like the old saying goes ‘Those near the cutting edge may get cut’. Our efforts can convince the industry to adopt and produce, but the consumer needs to be able to properly manage the turfgrasses if we want these new varieties to be successful.”

“We’ve learned in our investigations that the average consumer is concerned about their grass’s environmental tolerance – to shade, drought, and winter-kill. They are looking for low-maintenance landscapes,” Milla-Lewis noted.

Convincing homeowners to adopt these drought-tolerant grasses would deliver on both accounts. “We have a young consumer audience with very different landscape needs. For some, lawn maintenance is at best a hobby, and at worst a nuisance. They are looking for lawns requiring fewer inputs, even if it is more expensive,” concluded Miller.

Student Opportunity Plant breeders and consumers aren’t the only winners in this specialty crops grant. The project will fund graduate assistantships and student internships too. “Turf majors will have the opportunity to go beyond classroom content – learn what we do and how we generate new knowledge and products for the industry,” Milla-Lewis commented.

Each university in the project will likely require several undergraduate and graduate students to complete their work.

“In the midst of our research, we’re also training the next generation of plant scientists,” Milla-Lewis noted.

PHOTO 5: PSI Building

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New Conditions Plant breeding didn’t end in the project’s phase II. It’s the heart of the project, but there’s always room to improve selections and methodology. “Some team members are working to understand what makes a grass more drought-tolerant. Others use that information to identify which genes might be responsible for the improved performance. All this information can be used to quickly identify plant materials worth field testing, saving breeders time and resources,” Milla-Lewis said.

The group is looking not only to refine the varieties but to quantify best management practice guidelines for the new turfgrass varieties. This will involve testing under multiple conditions: restricted rainfall, reclaimed water irrigation, salty-spray exposure, shade, sod strength for cutting, and other production aspects. Surviving these endurance tests will produce turfgrass uniquely adapted for low maintenance production and management.

hierarchy,” Grady Miller noted. The multi-university team is guided by an industry advisory board providing feedback and input to direct the research for environmental and economic benefit.

Milla-Lewis’s leadership stint will extend the project for an additional four years. “The strength of this group resides

not only in the wide range of expertise of the research and extension scientists involved in the project and how well we work together but also in how closely we interact with our industry partners. They are our compass, making sure our deliverables fulfill real industry needs,” MillaLewis concluded.

Testing the Technology Part of the team’s challenge isn’t just testing turfgrasses, but technology itself.

Most UAV technology wasn’t developed for crop production. Part of the group’s forthcoming research will be devoted to figuring out the best ways to use technology in plant breeding and developing protocols to standardize use. Rob Austin is a GIS specialist at NC State, “We’re trying to figure out what works best for this application. Some experiments on drone use in plant breeding have been done, but largescale research is scarce.”

The group plans to collaborate on shared protocols that standardize drone data collection activities and data analysis techniques. Rob Austin will oversee the Raleigh group’s data strategy. He sees opportunity in automating the workflow.

“We don’t want to simply trade time in the field for time behind a computer screen,” Austin said, “We need standards and processes to translate the data into meaningful results.”

The Power of Teams “The success of this project to date is because of teamwork. It just goes to show how much you can get done with a collaborative team – with no room for

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PHOTO 6: NC State turf logo

Specializing in Specialty Crops Milla-Lewis’s specialty crop grant is one of two awarded to NC State recently, making it the leading university for NIFA funding in 2019. Massimo Iorizzo of NC State’s horticulture department is leading another industry-driven plant breeding project to improve the flavor and shelf life of blueberries and cranberries.

“With more than 90 commodities, North Carolina is a specialty crops state,” said Steve Lommel, associate dean of NC State’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. “The university has and will continue to invest in faculty and programs to serve this important ag sector. Our continued success with the NIFA SCRI program is a validation of our top-notch faculty and students as well as our commitment to NC’s specialty crops growers.”

And Now? COVID-19 safety measures and social distancing have changed research ability

and protocol. Susana Milla-Lewis provided an update on how they are keeping the work alive. “All our collaborators are currently working under severe restrictions.

Lab work has completely stopped and greenhouse operations are only allowed to maintain plants alive. Most of our collaborators were able to propagate materials to be planted this summer ahead of the restrictions, but the maintenance takes a lot of work, and eventually, they will need to go to the field to be able to keep things under control. Normally plant materials would have been exchanged in late May and planting would have started

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in early June. At this time we are hoping for just a one month delay, but we’re unsure what’s going to happen.

Are you able to grow/monitor test plots? “The window for planting turf is wide as compared to other species, so we are hoping we will be able to establish all field trials. However, in order to maintain social distancing requirements, we might need a reduced crew which would increase the time and work that those trials will take to plant. Also, a couple of collaborators had not finished propagating materials ahead of the pandemic. If they’re not able to have materials ready, we might need to significantly delay planting for some of the species.

How have multi-university team meetings been handled? “We have been communicating regularly. We’re holding a full team teleconference the second week in May to hear what challenges and concerns everyone has. For example, for breeders, propagation of materials and planting are main concerns. For genomics teams, their labs are closed and they’re not able to generate new data. For the outreach team, cancellation of field days might have an impact on what activities they’ll be able to carry out this summer.

Hearing everybody’s concerns will help us come up with contingency plans or evaluate the need for an extension request.

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