Date of Graduation

7-2015

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Plant Science (PhD)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Plant Pathology

Advisor/Mentor

Karcher, Douglas E.

Committee Member

Richardson, Michael D.

Second Committee Member

Hensley, David

Third Committee Member

McDonald, Garry V.

Fourth Committee Member

Rothrock, Craig S.

Keywords

Biological sciences; Ball lie; Ethylene; Turfgrass

Abstract

This dissertation is comprised of several studies over three unrelated areas of focus. Chapters two and three investigate the role of the hormone ethylene on growth of creeping bentgrass through (1) exposure of turf to exogenous ethylene and (2) testing an ethylene inhibiting compound for use to alleviate stress related injury. Previous research demonstrated a correlation of stress injury and ethylene and lessening of injury through ethylene inhibition, but little work has been conducted evaluating the direct effects of ethylene. These studies failed to confirm findings in previous research. Chapters four and five aim to illustrate the impact of turfgrass selection and management on playability of the turf by (1) examining the effects of bentgrass species and cultivar selection on golf ball lie and (2) evaluating the impact of golf ball lie on golfer performance. Several research studies have looked at the impact of warm-season species on golf ball lie, but no studies have evaluated the newer and denser bentgrasses for ball lie nor demonstrated the importance of ball lie on golfer performance. These studies confirm that ball lie is affected by species and cultivar selection and impacts golfer performance. Chapter six addresses the concern that synthetic turf could experience fading of colors through exposure to daily sunlight by assessing the color retention qualities of synthetic turf by digital image analysis. While color change was noticed, quantification of color change was not consistently measured.

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