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ICL’s Four-Year Seaweed Project

November 21, 2018/in News, Press Release/by Lucy Nicholls

ICL’s Four-Year Seaweed Project: ICL has teamed up with Royal Holloway, University of London to embark on a unique four-year research project which will look in depth at the effects of seaweed products on turfgrass plant parasitic nematodes. The project is funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and ICL. “It came about […]

Quadraplay Praised At Dudley Kingswinsford RFC

November 21, 2018/in Machinery, News, Press Release/by Lucy Nicholls

Quadraplay Praised At Dudley Kingswinsford RFC: After recommendation from Keith Kent, head groundsman for the RFU, a volunteer groundsman at Dudley Kingswinford Rugby Club in the West Midlands purchased a SISIS Quadraplay, and was full of praise for the single pass maintenance system. Founded in 1922, Dudley Kingswinford is an English rugby union football club which was originally […]

ICL’s Four-Year Seaweed Project

November 21, 2018/in News, Press Release/by Lucy Nicholls

Quadraplay Praised At Dudley Kingswinsford RFC

November 21, 2018/in Machinery, News, Press Release/by Lucy Nicholls

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

ICL’s Four-Year Seaweed Project

November 21, 2018/in News, Press Release/by Lucy Nicholls

“It came about following a discussion with Andy Owen (ICL International Technical Manager) at a greenkeeper meeting a couple of years ago,” says Alan Gange, Professor of Microbial Ecology at Royal Holloway. “We started talking about the need for turfgrass research, particularly focused on nematodes because we had noticed that in the last ten years greenkeepers and groundsmen have become much more aware of these and they appeared to be becoming a real problem.”

Alan believes that the rise of nematodes could potentially be attributed to the loss of certain chemicals and the effects of climate change. As it stands, there are few options available for the turf manager who has a nematode problem but Alan feels that seaweed could well offer a sustainable solution.

“There are scattered reports that some seaweed products or extracts, contain various chemicals which can protect plants against pests and diseases. We think that when the right seaweed is applied to a grass plant it could change the resistance of the plant to disease and insect attack. Nematode infection could then be reduced when the seaweed product is applied. So that is the essence of what we are trying to do here in sports turf.” Someone asked me a while ago if we are creating antibiotics for plants and in a way that is indeed what we are trying to do – we are trying to harness the plant’s natural resistance mechanism and improve it.

ICL’s SeaMax product, which is used as a bio-stimulant and fertilizer, has been a huge success in the sports turf industry. It contains a premium high concentration of Atlantic Ascophyllum nodosum seaweed extract, sustainably harvested from renewable resources by Acadian Seaplants. We have already shown many turf benefits through using Seamax says Andy Owen, and we wanted to explore its capabilities further, with a more detailed research project with Royal Holloway.

Integral to the research project is student Tamsin Williams, who was successfully appointed following a rigorous interview process. Tamsin, who throughout the four-year project will be working with ICL to better understand how the commercial side of the sports turf industry works, believes that this studentship was a perfect fit for her ambitions to develop a career in research.

“In my previous role I was working on pathogen and insect bio-control using fungal bio-pesticides. I had also worked with plant parasitic nematodes before, so when I heard this was a bio-control project for nematodes I felt that it was perfect and it made so much sense to apply. Nematology is one of my main interests, but it’s also the fact that seaweed products are sustainable – we could be finding an environmentally friendly solution for a serious turf problem, which potentially could transfer to other crops as well. This makes it a really valuable research topic.

Tamsin has already begun her experiments looking at how plants and the soil microbiota respond to SeaMax seaweed application, before she will add plant parasitic nematodes into the study. However, these are just the first steps in an ever-evolving project according to Andy Owen.

“We will start with a proof of concept to gather further evidence that it does indeed work. In subsequent years there will be a focus on investigating the modes of action that are occurring, and then optimising applications in terms of rates, timings and frequency, so that we can provide the right advise to the end-user.

“Hopefully this project will generate the research to show turfgrass managers that certain approaches can help support and develop a plant’s resistance to pests and diseases and that you might require fewer synthetic chemical applications,” adds Alan. “Ultimately providing a sustainable and integrated management approach to keep surfaces healthy.

“As an ecologist it concerns me that many biological products, which contain microbes, are being sold in the turf marketplace with little or no supporting research behind them whatsoever. It is never published in reviewed journals and therefore with most of the products, one has suspicions about them because you just don’t know what independent research has been conducted. However, ICL genuinely want to find out more about their own products and they are committed to research.”

In re-iterating Alan’s sentiments, Andy confirmed that ICL will look to publish this work where possible and intend to present the data openly at a number of events. The industry will be able to gain a greater insight into the project in January 2019 when Alan’s research group will speak at BTME’s Continue to Learn education programme.

“What we want to do is support our products with robust research, and ensure that any claims we are making can be fully substantiated,” he says If anyone would like to find out more then come along to BTME in Harrogate next year.

“From our point of view, we are really excited to be working with Royal Holloway on this project. We are always looking to do independent research on our products and you don’t see very much of this happening in the turf industry. I can’t wait to see how it develops.”

Please contact ICL on +44 (0)1473 237100 or visit www.icl-sf.co.uk or www.icl-sf.ie.

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Quadraplay Praised At Dudley Kingswinsford RFC

November 21, 2018/in Machinery, News, Press Release/by Lucy Nicholls

Founded in 1922, Dudley Kingswinford is an English rugby union football club which was originally known as the Bean Football Club. The name Dudley Kingswinford was adopted in 1927 and after playing at several grounds the club moved to its current premises in 1962. The club runs seven senior sides, a ladies team and a full range of junior sides.

The teams play their games across four full size pitches and four junior sized pitches which are maintained throughout the year by a group of volunteers. Grounds chairman John Griffiths oversees the team of volunteers and explained how the club came to purchase the SISIS Quadraplay.

“We had a visit from Keith Kent through the RFU Groundsmen Connected scheme. He looked round to see what equipment we had and then he identified what he thought we needed. I already had my eye on the Quadraplay, so when Keith also recommended it, along with a grant which also assisted our purchase, it was a win-win.”

The SISIS Quadraplay multiple-purpose, single-pass maintenance incorporates a mounted frame for up to four implements such as grooming rakes, spikers, slitters, rollers and brushes. The implements can be fitted to the mainframe in any order and can be independently adjusted to achieve the desired effect. Compact, robust, versatile and with the ability to carry out up to four operations simultaneously – the Quadraplay makes life a lot easier for many groundsmen.

At Dudley Kingswinford, John uses the spiker slitter, the straight brush, the spring tine grooming rake and the roller, and believes that each plays a major role in his maintenance procedures.

“We use it from October until March quite regularly on all of the pitches and at all times we have the four implements attached. I really like the spring tine rake which is great for standing grasses up to improve presentation and remove thatch; the slitter is a big help in relieving compaction which in turn helps absorb water, air and nutrients into the root zone; we use the straight brush to remove excess dew and then the roller is just what we want to level the bumps out and press the divots back into place. From a presentation point of view, it also give us that all important stripe.

“It even helped us when it snowed last year because we used the Quadraplay to clear the ice off the lines. We simply ran over the ice with the slitter to break it all up and then used the brush to move it off.”

For further information or a no obligation demonstration, please contact SISIS on 01332 824 777 or visit www.sisis.com

For the latest industry news visit turfmatters.co.uk/news

Get all of the big headlines, pictures, opinions and videos on stories that matter to you.

You can also find us on Facebook for more of your must-see news, features, videos and pictures from Turf Matters.

Half Sized Blog Element (Single Author Style)

Half Sized Blog Element (Multi Author Style)

ICL’s Four-Year Seaweed Project

Quadraplay Praised At Dudley Kingswinsford RFC

ICL’s Four-Year Seaweed Project

Quadraplay Praised At Dudley Kingswinsford RFC

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

ICL’s Four-Year Seaweed Project

Quadraplay Praised At Dudley Kingswinsford RFC

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