New Book: Achieving Sustainable Turfgrass Management

A new book published by Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing is geared to those wishing to adopt more sustainable turfgrass management strategies. Achieving sustainable turfgrass management has been edited by one of the world’s leading experts on turfgrass ecology, diseases, and plant protection, Professor Michael Fidanza at Pennsylvania State University.

Achieving sustainable turfgrass management summarizes the wealth of recent research that addresses these challenges, while also identifying potential mitigation strategies to reduce fertilizer use and water conservation. This collection also highlights developments in breeding for improved cultivars of turfgrass with enhanced abiotic and biotic stress responses, as well as climate resilience.

In its extensive exploration of turfgrass physiology, breeding, and cultivation, the book showcases how the turfgrass industry can adopt more sustainable management practices and reduce its environmental impact.

Key features

Reviews the impact of climate change on the increasing threat of biotic and abiotic stresses to the turfgrass industry, as well as the challenge of treating diseased turf in the face of fungicide resistance
Considers the development of alternative, more sustainable management practices that utilise and/or optimise fewer agricultural outputs, such as fertilizers, pesticides and fuel to power agricultural machinery
Provides a selection of case studies that detail the establishment of good turfgrass management and maintenance in a variety of environments (golf courses, athletic fields, sports pitches, arid environments)

“Although numerous publications are available on turfgrass science and management, few are focused on environmental issues and sustainability such as this new book by Professor Fidanza. As the need for improved sustainability becomes increasingly important in the turfgrass industry, practitioners and academicians need up-to-date science-based information on effective measures to deal with stress factors induced by climate change, as well as best practices for optimizing the use of valuable resources, including, water, fertilizers and energy. The book’s inclusion of case studies on unmanned aircraft, variety selection, wildflowers, pollinators and irrigation scheduling provides a unique and interesting overview of the ways in which the industry can adopt more sustainable practices. This publication will undoubtedly become a standard reference for turfgrass scientists around the world.” —Dr Peter Landschoot, Professor of Turfgrass Science and Director of Graduate Studies in Agricultural and Environmental Plant Science, The Pennsylvania State University