Frankly Speaking with Dr. Dale Bremer: Turf Management and Greenhouse Gases
In this episode of Frankly Speaking, Frank chats with professor Dale Bremer of Kansas State University. A native of Nebraska, Bremer grew up on a farm with an interest in meteorology and wound up with an undergraduate degree in agronomy (emphasis in tallgrass prairie rather than turf) and later a PhD in Micrometeorology. A "non-turf guy", Bremer's expertise is in micrometeorology related to turfgrass ecosystems including water conservation, turfgrass environmental stress, and exchanges of greenhouse gases between turfgrass and the atmosphere... including off-gassing of nitrous oxide from a nitrogen fertilizer application. How concerned should the turfgrass industry be with the loss of nitrogen to the atmosphere via nitrous oxide (a greenhouse gas that traps heat and destroys ozone? What can turf managers do to mitigate or minimize this? Hint: Polymer-coating can reduce nitrous oxide release by 20%, compared to straight urea. Can fertilizing rates be reduced on lawns, amenity turf, and fairway turf (we're not talking putting greens here)? How can irrigation be managed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from nitrogen fertilizer? All this and more in this fascinating chat between Drs. Rossi and Bremer, presented by DryJect and Civitas.