- Tue. Nov 11th, 2025
Pedogenesis and carbon accumulation with cool season grasses under low input regime
For nine years, Maurice Evers of Lumbricus researched carbon sequestration in cool season grasses. Earlier this year, he defended his PhD thesis. This article discusses his observations and conclusions.
The accumulation of carbon in different soil layers under turf, related to the quantity and quality of biomass formation by a wide spectrum of grass (sub)species and varieties under sustainable management, is relatively unstudied. Moderate carbon accumulation in the soil has the positive effect on the turf that it is resilient and provides proper cushioning of ball impact, wear resistance and protection against extreme weather conditions. It also provides buffer capacity for water and nutrients in the soil.
However, excessive carbon accumulation in soil actually leads to reduced water infiltration and water permeability of soil. This will result in a shallower root system which, subsequently, will reduce the tolerance of turf to extreme climatic conditions. This can result in problems with diseases and insects in the grass. Ultimately, this can lead to lower turf quality, with, as a result, more limited playability.
Grass maintenance predominantly focuses on preventing or eliminating excessive carbon accumulation, particularly in the upper centimetres of soil. This maintenance requires a lot of labour, machinery and equipment, and the use of resources such as water, sand and pesticides. The increasing impact of climate change, stricter regulations reducing or completely banning the use of pesticides, and a growing need to use water and labour sparingly, present major challenges for the outdoor sports surfaces sector today. From the perspective of a more ecological and sustainable approach to turf care, intensive use of materials and resources is no longer accepted. This makes the choice of grass (sub)species and their varieties with relatively low carbon accumulation in the topsoil, increasingly important. The knowledge gained during this research will help develop more sustainable grass sports pitches.
Within subspecies of red fescue and within bent grass species, Evers observed significant differences in carbon accumulation. Even between varieties of velvet bent grass (Agrostis canina), significant differences in carbon accumulation were also observed. Again, this was mainly related to significant differences in carbon accumulation in thatch. This underlines the importance of layer distinctions when studying carbon accumulation dynamics in turfgrass soils.
Finally, Evers calls for new research on the development of visible plant biomass and carbon-nitrogen ratio in thatch and mat with different varieties of different grass (sub)species during the growing season and at different low nitrogen fertilisation regimes. This will help find optimal nitrogen fertilisation regimes for grass fields that can temporarily control high plant biomass concentrations in thatch and mat.
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