Abstract
Sports field traffic tolerance is critical for offering athletes a safe playing surface and adequate turfgrass performance. Humic substances act as bio-stimulants that could enhance turfgrass traffic tolerance by increasing turfgrass efficiency, which could be due to increased root growth, antioxidant activity, and/or physiological health. A two-year field experiment was conducted on a Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.) sports field to investigate if incorporating humic substances with fertilizers could improve turfgrass traffic tolerance and performance, and enhance turfgrass recovery after traffic. Treatments included humic-coated urea, poly-coated humic-coated urea, synthetic fertilizer with black gypsum (two application timings), black gypsum, stabilized nitrogen, poly-coated sulfur-coated urea, urea, and a nontreated control. The addition of humic substances to fertilizer treatments did not result in improve traffic tolerance and performance. Fertilizer treatments did not lead to an effect on soil moisture, surface hardness, and shear strength. Turfgrass recovery varied between years. In 2020, the second year of the experiment, four applications of fertilizers increased turfgrass recovery by 136% relative to the nontreated. Furthermore, incorporating humic substances did not result in enhanced turfgrass recovery compared to fertilizers alone. Overall, applications of fertilizers with humic substances could improve turfgrass recovery from traffic compared to fertilizers alone, but results were variable between years.
Highlights
Sports turf is the turfgrass and soil environment managed for aggressive sporting events and must offer a safe playing surface and adequate performance or playability for athletes [1,2]
Humic substances have been classified as plant growth promoters or plant growth stimulators, which are forms of
The addition of humic substances did not result in enhanced traffic tolerance compared to fertilizer alone
Summary
Sports turf is the turfgrass and soil environment managed for aggressive sporting events and must offer a safe playing surface and adequate performance or playability for athletes [1,2]. Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.) is one of the most common turfgrass species used for sports fields in cool-season turfgrass climates due its high traffic tolerance and recovery from rhizomes [3,4]. Traffic is composed of wear stress, which affects the shoot system of the turfgrass, and soil compaction, which alters the physical properties of the soil [5,6]. Simulated traffic replicates the horizontal and vertical forces that affect both the soil and turfgrass in a reproducible manner, which results in soil compaction and shearing of the turfgrass [1,7,8]. Sports turf managers have relied on effective fertilization programs to help ensure field safety and performance; in recent years, sustainable management practices and the utilization of bio-stimulants, such as humic substances, have garnered interest within the turfgrass industry [2]
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