Interaction of cyanobacteria and sulfate-reducing bacteria in subsurface black-layer formation in high-sand content golf greens
1992
Hodges, C.F.
Two Oscillotoria spp and a Nostoc sp., and a culture including Desulfovibrio species, were isolated from the surface and subsurface of high-sand content golf greens which contained subsurface black globules and layers often associated with the death of turf. These isolates and a pure culture of D. desulfuricans were grown for 12 weeks on calcareous sand columns treated with nutrient salts alone or in combination with CaCO3, gypsum, sulfur, chelated iron, or chelated iron + S. The Oscillatoria spp slowed water flow in response to most treatments and prevented water flow through the sand after 12 weeks in response to S, chelated iron, and chelated iron + S. Nostoc slowed water flow in response to all treatments, and sulfate-reducing bacteria slowed water flow slightly in response to chelated iron. None of the cyanobacteria or sulfate-reducing bacteria isolates alone developed any blackening of the sand columns. Only sand columns on which any of the cyanobacteria isolates were grown for 12 weeks and then infested with either of the sulfate-reducing bacteria isolates developed varying degrees of blackening in the subsequent 12 weeks. Blackening was most intense in response to S, chelated iron, and chelated iron + S. It was concluded that a natural interaction exists between the cyanobacteria and sulfate-reducing bacteria that produces black subsurface globules and layers in high-sand content golf greens, and that the interaction is stimulated by the management practices applied to these greens.
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