Table 1. Summary of physical, chemical and watering treatments applied to trial plots Annual Meadow-G Chemical


Grass Control Treatments Physical No physical control No chemical control Surface fraise mowing at One post emergence


at 10 litres per hectare four weeks after renovation and oversowing


at 5 litres per hectare four and eight weeks after renovation and oversowing


Irrigation


Conventional watering at rate to replace evapotranspiration loss


Over-watering at rate 30%


beginning of each year’s application of ethofumesate above conventional rate renovation


Deep Koro to 18 mm at Two post emergence beginning of each year's applications of ethofumesate renovation


ethofumesate application or for either treatment in the two following seasons. No reason has been identified to explain the phytotoxicity on the perennial ryegrass on this single occasion.


Physical control Both Koro treatments reduced the proportion of annual meadow-grass in the live grass cover. The deep Koro treatment consistently kept the annual meadow-grass content below 5%, whereas this figure rose to nearly 30% in the fraise mown treatments at the end of the playing season. The proportion of dead grass and bare ground in the physical control treatments was generally similar to the plots treated with ethofumesate. Both physical treatments affected the playing characteristics of the surface. In 2004-05, following two sets of pitch renovation, hardness and ball rebound values were significantly lower for the non Koro treatments than for the deep Koro and fraise mown plots. This was almost certainly the result of the build up organic matter at the surface on the untreated control plots. Traction, a measure of the amount of grip available to the player, was also found to be significantly greater in the fraise mown plots during the last playing season as compared to the non Koro treatment.


Conclusions The main findings from this trial are:


• Both the chemical and physical control techniques used in this research were effective at controlling the amount of annual meadow-grass in the sward.


• Chemical control kept annual meadow- grass content below 5%, although plots treated with ethofumesate did suffer a greater proportion of grass cover loss as compared to the physical treatments.


• There was no difference between using one or two post emergent applications of ethofumesate.


• Both the fraise mowing and deeper Koro treatments had lower annual meadow-grass contents than treatments with no control. The deeper Koro treatment constantly kept the abundance of annual meadow-grass below 2%. However, it involved removing the top 18mm of rootzone, which had to be replaced every year. So, on a large area would be time consuming and more costly.


• The over-watering treatment led to increased annual meadow-grass content, therefore the correct watering regime is vital for maintaining professional football pitches with low annual meadow-grass contents. Excessively wet conditions allow annual meadow-grass to spread more rapidly and out-compete the perennial ryegrass.


Figure 1: The use of ethofumesate was effective at reducing annual meadow-grass 72


• Without control annual meadow-grass abundance increased to around 50% of the live grass cover, and was the dominant species after only two playing seasons.


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