ABSTRACT
Most people would recognize the value of soil as a basis for sustaining human life. However, soil is also an integral component of the social and recreational fabric of human activity. Whether as individuals playing a sport on natural turf, or simply enjoying watching sports on television or from a seat in a grandstand, every day of the year sees applied soil science in action around the world across thousands of sports and athletic elds, stadiums, lawn bowls clubs, golf courses, racecourses, tennis clubs, cricket grounds, baseball elds, and other recreational areas. Yet, few would have a good appreciation of just how different and challenging the management of soil for sporting use is compared with the management of soil for conventional agricultural or horticultural crop production. This chapter aims to widen that appreciation by examining certain aspects of soil science that
27.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 351 27.2 Soil Management Approach for Crop Production ................................................................ 352 27.3 Using Native Soils for Sporting Use ..................................................................................... 352
27.3.1 Importance of Soil Physical Properties .................................................................... 352 27.3.2 Requirements of Sports Turf Soils ........................................................................... 353
27.4 Designing Drainage Systems and Proles for Sports Surfaces ............................................ 354 27.4.1 By-Pass Drainage Systems ....................................................................................... 355
27.4.1.1 Installing Slit Drains .................................................................................. 356 27.4.1.2 Protecting Slit Drains ................................................................................ 356
27.4.2 Modication or Replacement of Soil Texture ........................................................... 356 27.4.2.1 Modication of Soil Texture ...................................................................... 356 27.4.2.2 Replacement of Soil Texture ...................................................................... 357 27.4.2.3 Sand Selection Criteria and Modication for Design ................................ 359
27.5 Unique Challenges of Stadium Sports Surface Design ........................................................360 27.5.1 Specialist Turf Reinforcing Products ....................................................................... 361 27.5.2 Transportable Turf Systems ...................................................................................... 362 27.5.3 Enhancing the Growing Environment ...................................................................... 363
27.6 Cricket Pitches: The Last Word in Sports Surface Design ...................................................366 27.7 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 367 Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................................... 368 References ...................................................................................................................................... 368
are exploited in order to provide a range of contrasting natural turf sports surfaces able to satisfy the playing quality demands of different sports.
