239-8 Modeling the Effect of Washing Hydraulic Fluid Spills on a Hybrid Bermudagrass Green.

See more from this Division: C05 Turfgrass Science
See more from this Session: Golf Course Management and Cultural Practices

Tuesday, November 17, 2015: 2:55 PM
Hilton Minneapolis, Symphony Ballroom I

William L. Berndt, Environmental Turf, Inc., Fort Myers, FL
Abstract:

Strategies for mitigating turf injury from hydraulic fluid (HF) spills are lacking.  Research was conducted in 2014 to determine if washing HF spills with water reduced injury area (IA) on a hybrid bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon [L.] Pers. var. dactylon x C. transvaalensis Burt-Davy var. ‘Tifeagle') putting green.  If washing reduces IA then turf injury should heal faster.  To test this hypothesis a split-plot field experiment was conducted.  Three mL hot (80°C) petroleum HF (PHO), vegetable HF (VHO), or synthetic HF (SHO) were applied to turf in a single spot.  After 75 min spills were washed with water or left unwashed.  Resulting IA was determined over 38 d using image analysis.  Washing reduced IA for SHO and PHO (p = 0.0198) but not for VHO.  Injury area for SHO averaged 2.2 (washed) and 12.6 cm2 (unwashed) at 38 DAT (p = < 0.0001).  For PHO it averaged 39.9 and 47.1 (p = 0.0306) and for VHO it averaged 32.1 and 32.5 (p = 0.7678).  Fitting a hyperbolic-linear model to IA data over time produced best-fit regression lines for all HF.  Modeling indicated the rate of change in IA expansion and contraction differed between SHO treatments (p = < 0.0001).  Washing slowed the initial rate of expansion (p = 0.0525) and accelerated the rate of contraction (p = < 0.0001).  This was not observed for non-polar HF.   Predicted healing time was reduced to 65 d (SHO washed) compared to > 120 d (SHO unwashed).  Predicted healing for non-polar HF was > 200 d regardless of treatment.  Washing SHO with water reduced IA and hastened turf recovery confirming the hypothesis.  This was attributed to SHO being soluble in water.  Washing non-polar HF with water was not an effective turf injury mitigation strategy.        

See more from this Division: C05 Turfgrass Science
See more from this Session: Golf Course Management and Cultural Practices