Announcement by Laura J. Lawson, Interim Executive Dean of the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences and Interim Executive Director of the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station. Dear colleagues, I am pleased to announce that James (Jim) Murphy, extension specialist in turfgrass management, and Stacy Bonos, professor of turfgrass breeding, have been named director and […]
Search Results for: "Stacy Bonos"
Annual Golf Classic Raises a Record $130,000+ for Turfgrass Industry Advancement
By Casey Sky Noon, Office of Continuing Professional Education The New Jersey Turfgrass Association (NJTA) is proud to support the Rutgers Center for Turfgrass Science by providing funding for research endeavors, student scholarships, staff salaries, needed equipment, building/farm repairs, and much more. One way the non-profit organization raises money is the annual Golf Classic. Twenty-four […]
Rutgers Part of Multi-State Team Awarded $5.4 Million Grant to Promote Greater Adoption of Low-Input Fine Fescue Turfgrass into Landscapes
Several faculty from the Department of Plant Biology are part of a multi-state and multi-institution team to be awarded a $5.4 million USDA grant to increase the use of well-adapted fine fescue cultivars that have the advantage of reduced inputs of water, fertilizer, mowing, and pesticides into sustainable landscapes. Rutgers portion of the grant is […]
Rutgers Hosts 13th International Turfgrass Research Conference, Attracting Attendees from 24 Countries
Excerpted from International Turfgrass, The Newsletter of the International Turfgrass Society (ITS), September 2017. By Bruce Clarke, Director, Rutgers Center for Turfgrass Science and ITS Immediate Past-President The 13th International Turfgrass Research Conference (ITRC) was held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in New Brunswick, NJ from July 16-21, the first time since 1993 that the […]
Rutgers Scientists Breeding Turfgrass That Can be Irrigated with Treated Wastewater
Clean water is a valuable limited resource and water conservation is a priority in arid and drought-stricken regions. While people require clean water for survival, some plants are able to grow without perfectly clean water, leaving more potable water for drinking. One water conservation strategy is to use treated wastewater, which contains salt left over […]
Turfgrass Breeder William A. Meyer Named the First C. Reed Funk Endowed Faculty Scholar
William Meyer, professor in the Department of Plant Biology and Pathology, has been named the first C. Reed Funk Endowed Faculty Scholar in Plant Biology and Genetics at Rutgers University. This is a tremendous honor for Meyer and the Rutgers Center for Turfgrass Science, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Executive Dean Bob Goodman presented […]
New Research Proposes Salty Take on Rye
The western Canadian prairie has one thing in common with the well-groomed golf courses surrounding New Jersey’s Rutgers University: the need for stronger saline tolerant grass varieties… Golf courses are a different story. Rutgers, the prestigious Big Ten university, is working on turf grasses with greater saline tolerance. Not only will the school provide golfers with better turf grass, but it will also provide an environmentally friendly way to use a large volume of saline waste water… Breeding saline tolerant turf grass for golfers may seem frivolous, but it makes sense if golf courses could be irrigated with salt-laden waste water, said Rutgers plant breeder Stacy Bonos. Golf courses already using treated waste water for irrigation obtain it directly from municipal sewage treatment plants… “We decided to use perennial rye grass because it has pretty good salt tolerance to begin with, compared to something like Kentucky blue grass,” she said.
High Hopes for Low Inputs
Oregon-based Mountain View Seeds is using the research facilities at New Jersey-based Rutgers University to test its current and future offerings. The company and university showcased their work during a field day July 15 at a pair of research farms……
Drought: Saving Water with Plant Genetics, Breeding Salt Tolerance
As arid conditions increase in various parts of the nation and world, scientists focus are focusing on using drought-resistant plants and increasing the number of plants able to use treated wastewater that still contains salt. The less water for plants, the more clean water for humans… Researcher Stacy Bonos, at the Department of Plant Biology & Pathology at Rutgers University, and her team recently published their research on perennial ryegrass in Crop Science journal. They’ve found that perennial ryegrass is controlled by additive genetic effects rather than environmental effects, meaning that salt tolerance can be bred for… Bonos’ research team measured salt tolerance using something called “visual percent green color”–the percentage of the plant that is green and actively growing, as compared to brown and therefore dying, according to a release… “It most makes sense…in areas like Las Vegas where there may not be much drinkable water available to water your lawn,” Bonos said in a release. “That’s a prime example.”
Recycled Water, Salt-Tolerant Grass A Water-Saving Pair
Plants need water. People need water. Unfortunately, there’s only so much clean water to go around- and so the effort begins to find a solution… Luckily for people, some plants are able to make do without perfectly clean water, leaving more good water for drinking. One strategy is to use treated wastewater, containing salt leftover from the cleaning process, to water large areas of turf grass. These areas include athletic fields and golf courses. Golf courses alone use approximately 750 billion gallons of water annually in arid regions… “We found through a series of experiments that salt tolerance in perennial ryegrass is highly controlled by additive genetic effects rather than environmental effects,” said Stacy Bonos from Rutgers University. “This is great news for breeders because we now know salt tolerance can be more easily bred for.”
