SportsTurf

June 2015

SportsTurf provides current, practical and technical content on issues relevant to sports turf managers, including facilities managers. Most readers are athletic field managers from the professional level through parks and recreation, universities.

Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/517437

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 7 of 52

FIELD SCIENCE 8 SportsTurf | June 2015 www.sportsturfonline.com B iostimulants … do they work? First, what exactly is a bio- stimulant? From the Latin, "bio" (~life) and "stimulus" (~a thing that evokes a specific functional reaction in an organ or tis- sue, or a thing that arouses activity or energy in something, or an interest- ing and exciting quality), these terms don't seem to tell the whole story. The European Biostimulants Industry Council (www.biostimulants.eu) has this definition: "Agricultural biostimu- lants include diverse formulations of compounds, substances and other products that are applied to plants or soils to regulate and enhance the crop's physiological processes, thus making them more efficient. Biostimulants act on plant physiology through different pathways than nutrients to improve crop vigor, yields, quality and post- harvest shelf life/conservation." The Association of American Plant Food Control Officials (www.aapfco.org) also includes an addition term "beneficial substances", which means: "…any sub- stance or compound other than primary (i.e., N, P, K), secondary (i.e., Ca, Mg, S), and microplant nutrients (i.e., Fe), that can be demonstrated by scientific research to be beneficial to one or more plant species when applied exogenously." Another version of this definition is that biostimulants are: "…a substance or material, with the exception of nutrients and pesticides, which has the capacity to beneficially modify plant growth." Interested in gaining a global perspec- tive on biostimulants? You may want to attend the 2nd World Congress on the Use of Biostimulants in Agriculture, Nov. 12-19, in Florence, Italy (www. biostimulants2015.com). The topics covered include biostimulants and plant nutrition, abiotic stress, plant growth and development, and more. BIOSTIMULANTS … WHAT DO THEY DO? Dr. Richard Schmidt, Emeritus Professor of Turfgrass Science at Virginia Tech is considered the pioneer of research on turfgrass biostimulants. He once wrote that: "Biostimulants are organic materials that when applied in small quantities enhance plant growth and development." This is still a good definition. Some commonly reported benefits of bio- stimulants include: increasing plant tolerance and recovery from biotic stresses (i.e., insects pests, weeds, dis- eases) and abiotic stresses (i.e., heat, drought and other adverse environmen- tal conditions); improved plant nutrient uptake (i.e., nutrient assimilation, trans- location and use); improved rooting; reduced nutrient losses to the environ- ment; enhancing soil physiochemical properties to facilitate the growth of beneficial microorganisms in the soil rootzone; and, when used as a soil amendment, the improvement of soil structure and function which translates to positive plant response, and more. On athletic fields, mowing and traf- fic are two common and persistent stressors of turf, which leads to visible and detrimental surface wear. Sports turf managers should keep in mind that the turfgrass species used has an opti- mal range for mowing height, and that going outside that range by lowering the height-of-cut will add more abiotic stress and wear, and overall this makes the plants less tolerant of any stress. Traffic of course is a reality on athletic turf, and field rotation, goal rotation, use-time limits, overseeding and aerifi- cation are all part of reducing stress in addition to a sound fertility program which could include biostimulants. Keep in mind, the exact mode of ■ BY MIKE FIDANZA, PHD, JOHN CISAR, PHD AND THOMAS WATSCHKE, PHD A PERSPECTIVE ON BIOSTIMULANTS AND SPORTSTURF

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of SportsTurf - June 2015