NA - Establishment of joint research projects between Norway and USA/Canada in the field of turfgrass science

The rapid increase in the number of golf courses in Scandinavia is parallelled with an increase in the demand for turfgrass research. The Scandinavian Turfgrass Research Foundation (SFG) was established in 2002 by the national golf unions in the Scandinav ian countries. SFG supports high-quality research proposals, regardless in which country the research is carried out. SFG's major source of income is an annual research levy paid by every member of the national golf unions. As turfgrass science is gen erally more advanced in USA and Canada than in Europe, one of SFG's priorities is to stimulate joint projects between Scandinavian and North-American researchers. Many North-American universities have very competent turfgrass teams, especially for golf co urses. Particularly active teams are found in Pennsylvania (Penn State University), New York (Cornell University), Minnesota (University of Minnesota), and Ontario, Canada (University of Guelph). In May 2006 the SFG board and a group of Scandinavian scien tists will visit these university to initiate joint research projects. In summer 2006, SFG will also be funding a three month sabbatical for turfgrass scientist from Cornell University to Scandinavia. The present application seeks support to establish two joint research projects between scientists from Bioforsk/UMB and North-American turfgrass teams. The first project will focus on species/cultivar selection and genetic and management aspects of turfgrass winter survival, an area in which there is muc h expertise both in Canada and Norway. The second projects with investigate the potential of various types of compost for improved physical characteristics, plant nutrition and disease suppression in turfgrass areas. This proposal will also include a com mercial partner and a doctoral fellow who will receive part of his/her training at one of the American Universities. The proposals will be submitted to NFR, SFG and possibly other sources by the end of 2006.