Fescue ecology, physiology and allelopathy: a case study.

The lawn care industry is expanding and has annual associated revenues in excess of $1.5 billion in the USA. Currently in the USA, there are up to 30 million acres of maintained turfgrass including lawns, parks, golf courses, and highway right-of-ways. The sport turf market includes golf courses (public and private), athletic fields (football, baseball, and soccer), and other turf areas used for less common sports, including polo, lacrosse, field hockey, and rugby. Although herbicides continue to be the predominant form of weed management for turf settings, herbicide use is being challenged on the basis of environmental and health concerns. Consequently, turf managers are seeking alternative weed management tools. The development of allelopathic turfgrass presents one interesting possibility, especially given strong public support for reduced herbicide usage. Our recent field and laboratory experiments have shown that Festuca spp. have strong weed suppressive ability, due in part to the production of allelochemicals released in the soil rhizosphere from fescue roots.