Root Zone Composition Effects on Putting Green Soil Water
2007
McCoy, E. L. | Kunkel, P. | Prettyman, G. W. | Mecoy, K. R.
A field study was conducted to examine sand texture and root zone amendment effects on soil water fate, focusing particularly on turfgrass water use. Six root zone treatments were used, each with a depth of 0.3 m overlying a 0.1-m thick gravel layer. Two were 100% sand where the sands were relatively finer and coarser, two used the same sands blended to contain 90% sand and 10% sphagnum peat (by volume), and the final two root zones were blended by adding 10% soil to the sand:peat mixes. While supporting ‘Penncross’ creeping bentgrass (Agrostis palustris Huds.), a water balance accounting was conducted during the growing seasons of 2000 and 2001. This involved daily measurement of rainfall, irrigation, drainage volume, and soil water contents with turfgrass evapotranspiration (ET) determined as the change in water content within the root zone plus rain or irrigation depths and minus the drainage depths. Turfgrass rooting was measured in the first week of October each year, and water retention curve and saturated hydraulic conductivity measurements were conducted in the fall of 2001. Overall, the results of the field experiment showed that increasing amendment amounts to either sand yielded significantly greater water retention, reduced saturated hydraulic conductivity, and greater root zone water contents; however, the sand and amendment treatments had little consistent effect on turfgrass response as judged by actual ET and rooting measurements.
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