Determining a Profile of Protocols and Standards used in the Visual Field Assessment of Turfgrasses: A Survey of National Turfgrass Evaluation Program-Sponsored University Scientists

Abstract

The National Turfgrass Evaluation Program (NTEP) is a not-for-profit organization that facilitates the assessment of experimental and commercial turfgrasses for the turfgrass seed and sod industries in cooperation with university turfgrass scientists. The objective of this survey was to identify and compare common protocol and standards used by NTEP-sponsored university scientists to aid NTEP staff in writing a document entitled Protocol and Standards for the Visual Field Assessment of Turfgrasses. Twelve NTEP-sponsored university scientists were asked seven questions to ascertain the protocol and standards they used for the visual field assessment (VFA) of turfgrass quality. Collectively, scientists listed seven protocol categories and two or three options within each category. All scientists were aware of the definition of turfgrass quality, yet their ability to articulate all components of quality varied. The majority of scientists listed uniformity and density as the most important components of quality and one scientist each listed density and texture, density and color, or color as the most important. The majority of scientists used the 6 score as minimally acceptable quality and one scientist each listed 7, 5, or 4 as their minimally acceptable score. There were three methods used among scientist to determine a turfgrass quality score (1 to 9). Two methods used reference standards based on an idealized image and the other approach assigned a score based on a relative ranking without regard to a standard. All scientists stated that hosting NTEP trials was very important to their universities’ turfgrass research / teaching / extension programs.