Stacy Bonos, John Sorochan, 2024 Turfgrass Symposium Keynote Speaker, and James Murphy. Photo: Susanne Ruemmelle.
Rutgers Center for Turfgrass Science hosted the 33rd Annual Turfgrass Symposium on March 14, drawing close to 90 attendees to the hybrid event, including participants via Zoom from France, Finland, United Kingdom, and several U.S. states, like Oregon, Virginia, Texas, Maryland, Tennessee, and North Carolina.
Keynote speaker was John Sorochan, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Plant Sciences, University of Tennessee – Knoxville, Institute of Agriculture. He presented his research and testing program for field consistency and uniformity at World Cup 2026, which will be the largest ever World Cup hosted at 16 venues across North America.
Eight Rutgers faculty, staff, and graduate students provided 12 oral and 16 poster presentations on modern approaches to research in turfgrass science and funded by the Center for Turfgrass Science. Abstracts of all presentations can be viewed at the Rutgers Center for Turfgrass Science website.
Three invited speakers included Dr. David McCall, Virginia Tech, Turfgrass Pathology, who described his research on targeted precision turfgrass management systems to reduce pesticide use; Dr. Cole Thompson, USGA, Turfgrass and Environmental Research, updated attendees on the USGA priorities for turfgrass and environmental research; and Dr. Glen Groben, USGA ARS, Foreign Disease-Weed Science Research Unit, who summarized his research on quantifying pathogen population changes in response to fungicide inputs.
Poster presentations at the 2024 Rutgers Turfgrass Symposium held on April 14 at IFNH. Photo: Susanne Ruemmelle.
James Murphy, extension specialist in turfgrass management and director of the Rutgers Center for Turfgrass Science, thanked those who helped to organize and coordinate the event. He also thanked the presenters for taking the time to share their research with the faculty, staff, and students of the Rutgers Center for Turfgrass Science.
“Their willingness to share and discuss their research among colleagues and attendees ensures that the center is maximizing opportunities for collaboration and strengthening our ability to reach mission relevant goals,” said Murphy.
Stacy Bonos, professor of turfgrass breeding and associate director the center, who directs the turfgrass breeding program at Rutgers NJAES, also expressed the center’s gratitude at the feedback on the symposium.
“We received numerous compliments throughout the day about the quality of the symposium program and the turfgrass research being done at Rutgers Center for Turfgrass Science. Those compliments are a direct result of the Center’s faculty, staff, and graduate student commitment and passion for their research,” said Bonos.
The Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Rutgers Turfgrass Symposium is available.
