The influence of the grass mixture composition on the quality and suitability for football pitches

The selection of grass mixtures with appropriate visual and functional parameters for sowing football fields is a key element in shaping the sports infrastructure, ensuring the spectacularity of a match and comfort for players. The aim of the research was to investigate the properties of lawn grass mixtures and their suitability for football pitches. The experiment was conducted at the Toya Golf & Country Club (51° 20′ E, 17° 07′ N), Wrocław, Poland, between 2007 and 2009. 12 grass mixtures were selected, mainly based on red fescue, Kentucky bluegrass, and perennial ryegrass. The assessment was carried out using a nine-point scale, according to the Plant Variety Office methodology for crops and turf grass. Six features of sports turf were studied: appearance, density, colour, leaf fineness, overwintering, and susceptibility to disease and they significantly varied, depending on the grass mixture and the year of research. Our study showed that mixtures based on the dominance of meadow grass were characterized by higher values of the general visual aspect, colour and slenderness of the leaf blade and these based on the dominance of perennial ryegrass and co-dominance of perennial ryegrass and meadow grass were the most useful in terms of wintering, resistance to diseases and sodding.

Axonopus fissifolius.

A. fissifolius is regarded as a useful pasture or turf grass on less fertile soils, and as such has been very widely introduced across Asia and the Pacific, but has proved unduly aggressive in many regions, competing with more desirable pasture species and threatening native flora, especially in Australia, Hawaii and other Pacific islands. It scored a high 16 in a risk assessment for Hawaii, based on the Australian system (PIER, 2012). Holm et al. (1979) classify A. fissifolius as a 'principal' weed in Brazil and Malaysia.

Plasma-fixated nitrogen as fertilizer for turf grass

Plasma-fixated nitrogen is a sustainably produced nitrogen fertilizer with applications in recreational turf grass such as rye grass and bent grass.

Digitaria fuscescens (yellow crab grass).

D. fuscescens is an annual, to perennial grass that is a weed of cultivated crops and disturbed soils (Useful Tropical Plants, 2016). It is also a weed of turf grass (Uddin et al., 2012). The species is listed as invasive in Asia (Chagos Archipelago), South America (Colombia, Peru) and Oceania (Fiji, French Polynesia, USA-Hawaii) (PIER, 2016).

Zoysia matrella (Manila grass).

Z. matrella is a warm season grass which has been widely planted as a turf grass in tropical and subtropical regions around the world and has naturalized mainly close to where it was planted in disturbed areas. It grows slowly and primarily spreads by rhizomes and stolons, but could also spread by seed. There is no information available on its impacts. It forms dense stands and could displace native species through competition for resources.