East Lansing, Michigan
May 30, 2007
In the future, people who care for
and enjoy using golf courses, sports fields and parks may be
able to worry less about how cold weather and drought affect the
grass at their favorite recreational areas. With the development
of new turfgrass hybrids by Suleiman Bughrara, professor in the
Michigan State University (MSU)
Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, the turfgrass industry may
grow greener and stronger than ever before.
Since beginning his work at MSU in 1999, Bughrara has blazed new
trails. Or, sometimes, frozen them. Bughrara completed a
comprehensive snow mold study of more than 4,000 cloned
varieties of creeping bentgrass by simulating winter for each
plant. Twenty bentgrass varieties showed significant resistance
to snow mold, one of the most detrimental diseases challenging
the turfgrass industry. A follow-up study found six of the 20
snow-mold-resistant clones also showed resistance to dollar
spot, the other main turf-troubling disease.
“Bentgrass has all the right characteristics of great turf but
shows susceptibility to dollar spot and snow mold,” Bughrara
said. “We will continue our work to examine ways of
crossbreeding aesthetically pleasing varieties, such as colonial
bentgrass, to maximize disease resistance.”
Bughrara and his research team continue making discovery after
exciting discovery in turfgrass breeding. His work also includes
ryegrass and fescue. Working to unlock the mystery of drought
tolerance, Bughrara is integrating Atlas fescue genes (from
semiarid regions of Morocco) into the perennial ryegrass genome.
The hybrids have shown high drought tolerance in greenhouse
research. Field evaluations and molecular mapping are under way.
“This is exciting work,” Bughrara said. “We are the only
university in the United States doing this type of genetic work
to improve cold and drought tolerance and disease resistance in
turfgrass breeding.”
Bughrara sees potential breakthroughs in how all plants are
grown, especially food plants.
“With the right location on a gene, we can create hybrids for
cold and drought tolerance in other crops as well. Wheat, corn
and rice that need less water to thrive? It could change the
entire landscape of our food systems,” Bughrara said.
Bughrara’s position and several of his research projects are
funded by Project GREEEN (Generating Research and Extension to
meet Economic and Environmental Needs), Michigan’s plant
agriculture initiative housed at MSU.
Founded in 1997, Project GREEEN is a cooperative effort between
plant-based commodities and businesses together with the
Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station, MSU Extension and the
Michigan Department of Agriculture to advance Michigan’s economy
through its plant-based agriculture. Its mission is to develop
research and educational programs in response to industry needs,
ensure and improve food safety, and protect and preserve the
quality of the environment.
To learn more about Michigan’s plant agriculture initiative at
MSU, visit
www.greeen.msu.edu. |
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