Turfgrass management is the applied horticultural practice of establishing, maintaining, and regulating a dense, uniform, mowed stand of grass species—cool-season or warm-season turfgrasses—on sports fields, golf courses, lawns, and landscapes [1]. The practice integrates the biology of the grass plant with cultural operations: selection of adapted species and cultivars, mowing at a prescribed height of cut, irrigation according to evapotranspiration and soil water status, fertilization matched to nutrient requirements, and pest and weed control. Because the grass shoot system grows from basal meristems located near the soil surface, the height and frequency of mowing determine whether the growing point is removed and therefore whether the stand survives; the management regime therefore acts on the plant's crown, root system, and carbohydrate reserve [2]. Turfgrass management is thus defined as the systematic control of growth, nutrition, water, and pest conditions to maintain a continuous, usable, and aesthetically acceptable grass cover rather than as a single agronomic operation [3].
Agriculture, Soil, Plant Science • Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics • Agricultural and Biological Sciences • Life Sciences