A grant from the USGA will help researchers study the long-term sustainability of salt-tolerant turfgrasses.
Researchers from the University of Georgia, Washington University in St. Louis and the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis will work together to further study salt tolerance in seashore paspalum through a grant by the USGA's Turfgrass and Environmental Research Program.According to the Danforth Center, is a not-for-profit research institute with a mission to improve the human condition through plant science, about 5,000 acres of coastline are lost per year, and, despite the prevalence of salt-tolerant grasses on the market "scientists are only beginning to understand the genetic basis of salt tolerance."
"The USGA is committed to advancing the game of golf through science and innovation, especially in turfgrass research," said Michael Kenna, Ph.D., research director for the USGA. "Research conducted at the Danforth Center furthers our longstanding work in the development of drought-resistant grasses and sustainable practices. Increasing the effectiveness of turfgrass breeding and genetic research and using whole genome data will provide genetic tools not commonly seen in recreational sports, and could have global impact."
Researchers with an active role in the project will include Elizabeth Kellogg, Ph.D., and Robert E. King, both of the Danforth Center, Ken Olsen, Ph.D. and doctoral candidate David Goad, both of Washington University, and Ivan Baxter, Ph.D., USDA research scientist and associate member at the Danforth Center.
Goad will conduct greenhouse experiments growing plants in different concentrations of salt water. In each experiment he will measure plant growth rate and chlorophyll content (greenness) to determine the effect of salt. In addition, the research group will apply ionomics to measure the amount of salt in the plant. This new ionomics method was developed and has been used extensively by the Baxter lab. Finally, the information on growth rate and salt content will be combined with extensive genome sequence data.
Their discoveries will advance the development of more robust turfgrass varieties that require less fresh water and fewer chemical treatments, a critical step in increasing the environmental sustainability of the golf industry.
The research will lay the groundwork for a larger study to identify the genetic basis of salt-tolerance by providing all of the necessary methodological tools and plant material to begin additional genome sequences and precise location of salt-tolerance genes. Preliminary results from the pilot project will also help in acquiring further funding to cover the costs of additional sequencing, greenhouse experiments, and ionomics work.
"With this grant we will begin to uncover the genetic basis of salt-tolerance in seashore paspalum," Kellogg said.
"Data and resources generated in this project will lay the foundation for future work to uncover the genetic basis of salt-tolerance using natural variation from a wide range of cultivated and wild plants."