MANEJO DE SALINIDAD EN LOS CAMPOS DE GOLF

MANEJO DE SALINIDAD EN LOS CAMPOS DE GOLF David M. Kopec Ph.D. University of Arizona dmk@email.arizona.edu

WATER QUALITY FOR TURF IRRIGATION Only one part of a water quality test. COMPONENTS: 1. SALIN ITY 2. Sodium hazard 3. Residual sodium carbonate 4. Specific ion toxicity 5. ph

SALINE or SALTY WATER OBJECTIVES : 1. Where do salts come from 2. Why is salt a problem- plant perspective 3. Irrigation options and cultural management 4. Grass selection

SALTS Are natural in soils from soil particles. Are applied in turf fertilizer. Are (mostly) soluble, so they end up in turf irrigation water.

Water Water HOH H+ -OH H+ -OH

SALTS Potassium nitrate (KN03) Ammonium nitrate ((NH4)2 N03) No3 - +H -OH Dolomite (MgSo4) Water = H+-OH

TURFGRASS LEAF A SWAMP COOLER

SOIL SALINITY. Makes it harder for the plant to.. 1. TAKE UP WATER at the roots 2. MOVE WATER up to the leaves 3. HAVE ENOUGH WATER inside the leaves for leaf cooling, photosynthesis, and growth. 4. Plants look drought stressed (blue) 5. Plants are dwarfed and compact!

SOIL MOISTURE as affected by salinity ET Requires Water Salinity decreases the amount of AVAILABLE soil water. A.k.a. - More salt in water. water stress / wilting occurs at higher soil moisture contents. 1 Increasing salinity 2 decreases available water that plant can take up nnnuptakewater 3 decreaseed Transpiration Turf wilts even though soil is wet. 4 Slow water Movement into roots

SALT PROBLEMS IN TURF?? Droughty looking plants, even when soil moisture is high! Fails the screw driver soil moisture probe test!

TURFGRASS IS STUNTED!

SALT PROBLEMS IN TURF?? White crusts on the soil surface around the edge of the turf an in between plants.

Water Testing for Salinity Total salinity electro-conductuvity EC Ppm = total dissolved solids TDS

Total Salinity Guidelines for Irrigation Water Salinity Hazard EC (ds m -1 ) TDS (ppm) Low <0.75 < 500 Medium 0.75 1.5 500-1000 High 1.5 3.0 1000-2000 Very High > 3.0 > 2000

Field Salinity Meter

Determining the SOURCE of the salts Soil Irrigation water Water table Added salts 1. Over fertilization 2. Deicing salts/road spray

Develop a STRATEGY for dealing with the salt problem Eliminate the source of the salts R.O. Soil treatment Drainage Cultivation Water options Leaching fraction Blending water sources

Drainage Encourages leaching of salts when extra water is added.

Cultivation Practices Core cultivation Slicing Spiking Deep-tine cultivation Water injection Drilling Solid-tine cultivation Vibratory plows

Deep tine

Drill and fill

AERIFICATION and SOIL LAYERS

IRRIGATION & SALTS Irrigate more frequently Irrigate with more water DRAINAGE DRAINAGE DRAINAGE DRAINAGE

LEACHING REQUIREMNT How much extra of the same salty water you need to apply to keep the soil salts (in the saturated paste extract) from reaching the level where growth will be less than 100% of normal. Percent of applied water that needs to pass below the root zone!

WASH AWAY SALTS IN THE WATER THAT THE ROOTS SEE LEACHING! Watering with more of the same salty water! Prevents excess salts from building up! Water enough to keep the salt level at some tolerable level.

Leaching Requirement Calculations Leaching Requirement = 2 pieces of data EC(water) EC(turf species) turf tolerance in soil solution Leaching Requirement = EC(water) _ 5EC (turf species) - EC(water)

Turf Species Salt Tolerance Species Name Salinity Tolerance Threshold EC Alkaligrass Tolerant 8.5 Saltgrass Tolerant 20.0 (or higher?) Wheatgrasses Tolerant 8.0 Tall fescue Tolerant 6.5 Perennial ryegrass Tolerant 6.5 Seashore Paspalum Tolerant 20.0 (or higher?) Creeping red fescue Moderately tolerant 4.5 Creeping bentgrass Moderately tolerant 3.7 Kentucky bluegrass Moderately sensitive 3.0 Zoysiagrass Moderately sensitive 2.4 Annual bluegrass Very sensitive 1.5

IRRIGATION ADJUSTMENT based on the L.F. target irrigation (inches) 1 (L.R. )

IRRIGATION ADJUSTMENT based on the L- F 0.4 inch target [ 1 (.20) ] 0.4 [ 0.8 ] = 0.50 actual

Higher salinity of water. Higher L.R. value becomes. Higher applied water amount becomes

IRRIGATION & SALTS Choose salt tolerant species Choose salt tolerant cultivars affects the LF equation EC( irr water) 5EC (grass tolerance) - (EC irr water) X 100

MORE WAYS TO DEAL WITH SALTY WATER 1. Leaching fraction 2. Enhanced drainage (aerification) 3. Use more salt tolerant turf grasses 4. Blend water

Turf Species Salt Tolerance Species Name Salinity Tolerance Threshold EC Alkaligrass Tolerant 8.5 Saltgrass Tolerant 20.0 (or higher?) Bermudagrass Tolerant 10.0 Tall fescue Tolerant 6.5 Perennial ryegrass Tolerant 6.5 Seashore Paspalum Tolerant 20.0 (or higher?) Creeping red fescue Moderately tolerant 4.5 Creeping bentgrass Moderately tolerant 3.7 Kentucky bluegrass Moderately sensitive 3.0 Zoysiagrass Moderately sensitive 2.4 Annual bluegrass Very sensitive 1.5

SALINITY TOLERANCE BENTGRASS MOST SALT TOLERANT: Mariner, Seaside II, Grand Prix, Seaside, MEDIUM : 18 th Green, Century, Backspin, L-93 LOW: SR 1119, Regent, Putter, Penncross, Penn G-6, Providence.

Ryegrass salt tolerance. Covet Galileo Magellan Brightstar SLT Karma Sideways Mitey AllStar Penguin Penguin II Thrive Bandelero Hancock Stamina Navajo Zoom

Alkaligrass cultivars Fult s alkaligrass Salty alkaligrass

Kentucky Bluegrass Cultivar Salinity Tolerance Good Fair Poor NorthStar Nuglade Kenblue Moonlight Abbey Park SR-2000 Blacksburg Huntsville Limousine Award Livingston Eclipse Midnight P105 Challenger

Seashore paspalum

MORE WAYS TO DEAL WITH SALTY WATER 1. Leaching fraction 2. Enhanced drainage (aerification) 3. Use more salt tolerant turf grasses 4. Blend water

BLENDING

BLENDING WATER Mix good water with poor water Salt level is equal to the proportional amounts of both water sources that make up the new 100% blended water

EXAMPLE WATER A has EC of 1800 ppm TDS (bad) WATER B has EC of 500 ppm TDS (good). What is the EC of 75% B and 25% A??? = C

EXAMPLE : EC of blended water 25 % of blended water has EC of 1800 ppm A 75% of blended water has EC of 500 ppm B (.25 X 1800) + (.75 X 500) = (450) + (375) = 825 ppm C

Develop a STRATEGY for dealing with the salt problem Eliminate the source of the salts (R.O.) Soil treatment Drainage Cultivation Water management Leaching fraction Blending water sources

Probelmas de Pastos, suelos, salinidad, y riegos dkopec@ag.arizona.edu

VIVE MEXICO dkopec@ag.arizona.edu

STOP

Turf-type Saltgrass (Distichlis)

SALTS GET CONFUSED WITH Sodium levels in water! GYPSUM requirement! (gypsum does not get rid of salt in the root zone solution) High bicarbonates in water! The need for acid injection!

CONSIDERATIONS

For TEX DEC 2004 Still has to go to DELL

TURFGRASS IS STUNTED!

SALINITY AND GROWTH

SOIL SALINITY. Makes it harder for the plant to.. 1. TAKE UP WATER at the roots 2. MOVE WATER up to the leaves 3. HAVE ENOUGH WATER inside the leaves for leaf cooling, photosynthesis, and growth.

Increased salinity hinders germination of KBG when temperature are low. Tall fescue is unaffected by temperature regardless of salt level. REM : 6 mmho / cm = 3840 ppm.

Salinity affects young turf plants of KBG more so than tall fescue

Salt stress is worse as temperature is increased!

Plant shape and appearance of weeping alkaligrass and weeping lovegrass. Left - Puccinellia distans, or Weeping alkaligrass. Right - Eragrostis curvula, Weeping lovegrass

HARAVANDI 1

Canada 2

Duncan roots Root growth is maintained under salt stress more than shoot growth

APPROXIMATE SALINITY TOLERANCE OF TURFGRASS GROWING IN SOIL SOLUTION GRASS < 4 4 8 8 16 > 16 KBG Creep Red Fes Tall Fes Per Rye Creep bentgrass Alkali grass Poa triv Ann blue West wheat Electrical conductivity [Ec] in ds/m or mmhos/cm

APPROXIMATE SALINITY TOLERANCE OF TURFGRASS GROWING IN SOIL SOLUTION GRASS < 4 4 8 8 16 > 16 Centipede Blue gramma Bermuda Zoysia St. Aug. Seashore paspalum Distichlis > 38 Electrical conductivity [Ec] in ds/m or mmhos/cm

Cultivar Selection - Salt Tolerant Grasses? Not in high demand Not in high supply Turf quality issues Seed costs Halo-phytes may be slow to establish Some are roadside while some are better in quality

CREEPING BENTGRASS VARIETIES vs. SALINITY TOLERANCE Good salinity tolerance : Seaside II, Mariner Grand Prix, Sea Side, 18 th Green. Poor Salinity Tolerance : Providence, Pro/Cup Penn G-6, Penncross, Putter, Regent SR 1119.

PERENNIAL RYEGRASS BRIGHSTAR SLT NAVAJO

Turf-type Saltgrass (Distichlis)

AMOUNT OF WATER NEEDED TO LEACH IS RELATED TO: What is the actual salt level of the irrigation water. EC( irr water) What is the salt level in the drainage water, or what is the salt level of the soil (soil EC = saturated paste extract) that the grass will tolerate before any growth is reduced. EC (drain water)

LEACHING FRACTION: EC( irr water) EC (drain water) X 100

EC( irr water) EC (drain water) X 100 1. The more salty the irrigation water is, 2. The less salty the salt tolerance of the turf is, the higher the leaching fraction will be!

EXAMPLE : LF calculation KENTUCKY BLUEGRASS EC (irr water) of irrigation water is 0.8 ds m-1 EC (max. value for No Growth Reduction) is 4.0 ds m-1 0.8 ds m-1 4.0 ds m-1 X 100 = 20%

SALT LEVELS IN IRRIGATION WATER Hazard Class EC (dsm-1) TDS (ppm) low < 0.75 < 500 medium 0.75-1.5 500-1,000 high 1.5-3.0 1,000-2,000 very high > 3.0 > 2,000

APPROXIMATE SALINITY TOLERANCE OF TURFGRASS GROWING IN SOIL SOLUTION Warm Season < 4 4 8 8 16 > 16 Centipede Blue gramma Bermuda Zoysia St. Aug. Seashore paspalum Distichlis > 30 Electrical conductivity [Ec] in ds/m or mmhos/cm

APPROXIMATE SALINITY TOLERANCE OF TURFGRASS GROWING IN SOIL SOLUTION GRASS < 4 4 8 8 16 > 16 KBG Creep Red Fes Tall Fes Per Rye Creep bentgrass Alkali grass Poa triv Ann blue Western wheat Electrical conductivity [EC] in ds/m or mmhos/cm

APPROXIMATE SALINITY TOLERANCE OF TURFGRASS GROWING IN SOIL SOLUTION Cool Season < 4 4 8 8 16 > 16 KBG Creep Red Fes Tall Fes Per Rye Creep bentgrass Alkali grass Poa triv Ann blue Western wheat Electrical conductivity [EC] in ds/m or mmhos/cm

YOUR FRIEND

VACUOLE Soft lined Water bag! By pulling inside minerals and other charged molecules inside the vacuole, more water is attracted to move inside the vacuole.

Plant Soil Salinity Tolerance (saturated soil paste extract, ECe) Soil Salinity Tolerance Tolerated by very sensitive plants Moderately sensitive plants must be used Moderately tolerant plants must be used Tolerant plants must be used Very tolerant plants must be used ECe at 0% Yield Reduction (threshold ECe*) ECe at 50% Yield Reduction <1.5 1.5-5 1.5-3 5-10 3-6 10-15 6-10 15-21 >10 >21 *ECe above which a reduction in yield will occur

IRRIGATION & SALTS HELP THE SOIL DRAIN! Aerification Tile drains Sandy soils

SALTS DISSOLVE IN WATER. Change the chemical properties of water (+) and (--) charges to compete with water itself! Conduct an electrical charge (can be measured)

SALTS Salts are the combination of any negative ion (--) called an (anion) and any positive ion (+) called a ca+ion. SALTS ARE ACTUALLY DRY COMPOUNDS!

SALTS GET CONFUSED WITH Sodium levels in water! GYPSUM requirement! (gypsum does not get rid of salt in the root zone solution) High bicarbonates in water! The need for acid injection!