ABSTRACT
Increased environmental awareness has generated a need to better understand nutrient transport from turfgrass systems, especially golf courses. This study assessed the effects turfgrasses, maintained as a golf turf fairway, had on runoff water quality. Sloped (9 to 14%) plots, each 123 m2, of creeping bentgrass, Agrostis palustris Huds., and perennial ryegrass, Lolium perenne L., were maintained as a golf course fairway. Plots were treated on five dates with a 32–1.3–8.3 (N, P, K) fertilizer at 15.3 g/m2, and on one date with urea (46–0–0) at 10.6 g/m2. Within 24 h following fertilization, and on other selected dates from Aug 1991 to Oct 1992, plots were irrigated at 152 mm/h for the generation of runoff and leachate samples.
Water samples were analyzed for nitrate-N, phosphate, and total Kjeldahl-N. Nutrient concentrations and loading rates found in runoff and leachate samples were consistently low and generally reflected those found in the irrigation water. Concentrations of NO3-N, phosphate, and total Kjeldahl-N rarely exceeded 7, 5, and 2 mg/L, respectively. Although bentgrass reduced runoff more than ryegrass (Linde, 1993), both turfs, when maintained as a golf fairway, did not allow significant transport of NO3-N, phosphate, or total Kjeldahl-N.
