AQUA-AID Solutions continues to set new standards in the turfgrass industry by being the first company to have published, peer-reviewed research to quantify a reduction in irrigation water use and irrigation frequency with turfgrass treated with a soil surfactant.
Published in the March 2024 Journal of Environmental Horticulture, the peer-reviewed Penn State University research study was conducted on a clay loam root zone to measure if irrigation inputs could be reduced on mineral soils that are common on all types of turf management systems. The study represents the first research to quantify a reduction in irrigation water use and irrigation frequency with turfgrass treated with a soil surfactant.
Highlights of trial included:
- The study showed that creeping bentgrass plots treated with PBS150 or OARS HS resulted in a range of 36.5 percent to 39.4 percent reduction in irrigation water consumption over a 63-day dry-down period versus plots only treated with irrigation water.
- Turfgrass plots that were treated with three applications of PBS150 and OARS HS prior to the 63-day dry-down period required a significantly lower number of irrigation events (13 to 14 waterings) versus untreated plots that only received irrigation with no soil surfactant (24 to 43 waterings).
“For over 38 years, across our four Solution pillars, we have strived to produce peer-reviewed research and field data to validate our solutions to the end users,” AQUA-AID Solutions President Sam Green said. “We entered a research study with Penn State University to quantify factually the amount of water reduction end users were observing on a PBS150 program.
“Turf managers around the world are being asked to conserve water by eliminating acres of maintained turf and significantly reduce water usage within their agronomic programs. We feel this research provides us factual proof that using PBS150 on large areas of turf and OARS HS on greens and tees should provide turf managers around the world a 30 percent or more reduction in irrigation needs while still maintaining a healthy stand of turf. We will continue to be the world leader in producing environmentally sustainable solutions for the turf and landscape market.”
