Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 26 (2017) 191–197 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Urban Forestry & Urban Greening journa l homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ufug ଝ Turfgrass maintenance and management in soccer fields in Slovenia ∗ Miha Curk, Matej Vidrih, Zigaˇ Laznik, Stanislav Trdan University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty, Department of Agronomy, Chair of Phytomedicine, Agricultural Engineering, Field Crop Production, Pasture and Grassland Management, Jamnikarjeva 101, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia a r a t i c b s t l e i n f o r a c t Article history: In the first systematic study of turfgrass in Slovenia, which was performed in 2015 in 20 soccer fields, Received 22 May 2016 sward cover, composition of turfgrass, and the occurrence of fungi, pests and weeds were evaluated. Received in revised form 22 July 2016 Turfgrass managers of all investigated soccer fields were interviewed with the aim of documenting the Accepted 13 August 2016 main steps of the maintenance, i.e., control methods for pests, diseases and weeds, irrigation methods, Available online 16 August 2016 frequency of mowing, fertilizing, aeration, seeding, and daily foot traffic. Soil analyses (pH, P2O5, K2O, and organic matter) of all soccer fields was performed. Four of the investigated soccer fields are owned or used Keywords: by the clubs from the Slovenian First League; four of the soccer fields are owned or used by the clubs from Agrotechnical measures the Slovenian Second League; six of the soccer fields are owned or used by the clubs from the Slovenian Composition of turfgrass Third League (all leagues are organized by the Football Association of Slovenia); and six of the soccer Fungal diseases Soil analysis fields are owned or used by clubs from the lower ranks of competition. In the spring (April to May) and Sward cover summer (July) periods of the sward cover evaluation, we did not observe significant differences between Weeds the soccer fields: in the first period, soil cover by grass on all fields ranged from 90 to 100%, whereas soil cover by grass on all fields in the second period ranged from 95 to 100%. The highest sward cover was determined for the fields of the First League clubs, whereas the lowest sward cover was confirmed for the fields of the Second League clubs. In both periods of evaluation, 100% presence of grasses was established on eight soccer fields. As expected, the majority (3) of the fields were used by the First League clubs, and the lowest (1) number of fields were used by the clubs from lower ranks of competition. This rate of use indicates greater knowledge and awareness about the importance of grass maintenance by the soccer field managers in higher-ranked competitions. We determined the highest presence of clovers in the turf (10.2%) in the summer period for the fields of the Third League clubs, followed by the clubs from the lower ranks of competition with 5.5% in the same period and the spring period for the fields of the Third League clubs (4.0%). The presence of herbs in the turf was 1.0%; the highest presence (0.8%) was recorded in the fields of the Third League clubs in the spring evaluation period. The infestation of grasses by soil fungi was only confirmed only in the second evaluation; however, the total infested area on all 19 soccer fields did not exceed 1%. When comparing the results of the soil tests among the competition levels, we did not ascertain differences in pH values; large values of P2O5 were detected on eight fields and large values of K2O were only detected on two fields. On 15 soccer fields, the content of soil organic matter was very high. We conclude that the turfgrass maintenance and management of soccer fields in Slovenia significantly differs and that the budget allocated by the owners for maintenance of the fields is not the most important factor in determining the appearance of the soccer fields. We discovered that several managers lack knowledge about proper turfgrass management, mineral fertilizers are often not professionally applied and the usage of pesticides on almost half of the soccer fields is negligible. ﾩ 2016 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Soccer is a very popular sport in Slovenia; therefore, soccer fields are distributed throughout the country. The differences in ଝ This article is part of a special feature entitled: 5th ETS 2016 Conference: Turf- their appearance are noticeable as budgets for maintenance and grass – towards sustainability and perfection for aesthetic, recreational and sports management substantially vary (maximum of 100.000 D /year). published at the journal Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 26C. ∗ Despite the popularity of soccer, no studies of the maintenance Corresponding author. and management of turfgrasses were performed in Slovenia prior E-mail address: [email protected] (S. Trdan). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2016.08.003 1618-8667/ﾩ 2016 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved. 192 M. Curk et al. / Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 26 (2017) 191–197 Table 1 List of soccer fields, their geographical locations, dates of evaluation, corresponding clubs and the rank of competition. Rank of Location Club Altitude Climate Geographic Longitude and latitude Dates of evaluation competition location ◦ ◦ SLO 1st League Ljubljana Stoziceˇ NK Olimpija 300 m A–C C N 46 08,042 E 14 52,422 April 21, 2015 July 15, 2015 ◦ ◦ Domzaleˇ NK Domzaleˇ 300 m A–C C N 46 13,686 E 14 60,180 April 16, 2015 July 21, 2015 ◦ ◦ Maribor Ljudski vrt NK Maribor 274 m C NE N 46 33,755 E 15 38,435 May 28, 2015 July 23, 2015 ◦ ◦ Zavrcˇ NK Zavrcˇ 226 m C NE N 46 23,002 E 16 02,895 May 20, 2015 July 23, 2015 ◦ ◦ SLO 2nd League Radomlje NK Kalcer Radomlje 333 m A–C C N 46 17,299 E 14 62,019 April 14, 2015 July 15, 2015 ◦ ◦ Ptuj NK Drava Ptuj 230 m C NE N 46 25,007 E 15 52,541 May 20, 2015 July 23, 2015 ◦ ◦ Dob NK Roltek Dob 311 m A–C C N 46 92,345 E 14 37,540 April 16, 2015 July 21, 2015 ◦ ◦ Senˇ curˇ NK Senˇ curˇ 419 m A NW N 46 15,014 E 14 25,173 April 24, 2015 July 21, 2015 ◦ ◦ SLO 3rd League Ruseˇ NK Pohorje 284 m C NE N 46 32,612 E 15 30,305 May 28, 2015 July 23, 2015 ◦ ◦ Kocevjeˇ NK Kocevjeˇ 462 m C SE N 45 38,176 E 14 51,318 May 14, 2015 July 28, 2015 ◦ ◦ Komenda NK Komenda 334 m A–C C N 46 12,378 E 14 32,451 May 11, 2015 July 28, 2015 ◦ ◦ Lesce NK Sobecˇ Lesce 502 m A NW N 46 21,808 E 14 09,444 April 24, 2015 July 21, 2015 ◦ ◦ Ivancnaˇ Gorica NK Ivancnaˇ Gorica 345 m C SE N 45 56,172 E 14 47,514 April 21, 2015 July 15, 2015 ◦ ◦ Ljubljana ZAKˇ NK ASKˇ Bravo 301 m A–C C N 46 06,968 E 14 49,995 April 21, 2015 July 15, 2015 ◦ ◦ Lower ranks Bled NK Bled 509 m A NW N 46 22,459 E 14 06,070 April 24, 2015 July 21, 2015 ◦ ◦ Vrhnika NK Vrhnika 292 m C C N 45 57,825 E 14 17,960 May 7, 2015 July 15, 2015 ◦ ◦ Dobrova NK Dolomiti 313 m C C N 46 04,058 E 14 24,482 May 7, 2015 July 15, 2015 ◦ ◦ Mirna NK Mirna 257 m C SE N 45 57,193 E 15 03,484 May 14, 2015 July 28, 2015 ◦ ◦ Stojnci NK Stojnci 216 mC NE N 46 22,253 E 15 59,557 May 20, 2015 July 23, 2015 ◦ ◦ Dobrovce NK Dobrovce 266 m C NE N 46 28,554 E 15 42,215 May 28, 2015 July 23, 2015 NK = Nogometni klub [Slovenian word for football club [FC]. to this study, however also in other European countries this types competition (which indicated the management budget). Three of of investigations are very rare. In this regard Larsen et al. (2004) the chosen soccer fields are located in the northwestern Slovenia investigated the effects of various cultural management practices [NW], eight of the soccer fields are located in central Slovenia [C], with the aim of controlling weeds without herbicides. Kumral et al. three of the soccer fields are located in southeastern Slovenia [SE] (2012) reported about the occurrence of new pest of turfgrass in and six of the soccer fields are located in northeastern Slovenia [NE] football fields – longicorn beetle Dorcadion pseudopressi Breuning –, region. Four soccer fields are owned or used by the clubs from the while effective and environmentally acceptable method of its con- Slovenian First League, four soccer fields are owned or used by the trol – the use of entomopathogenic nematodes – was presented clubs from the Slovenian Second League, six of the soccer fields are by Susurluk et al. (2011). Vandenbossche et al. (2011) confirmed owned or used by the clubs from the Slovenian Third League (all the importance of plant-parasitic nematodes in turf grass, also in leagues are organized by the Football Association of Slovenia), and football fields, in temperate Europe. It is known that as one of the six of the soccer fields are owned or used by the clubs from the sturdy of all turf grounds soccer fields are hard to manage as on lower ranks of competition. The soccer fields are situated between one side season long foot traffic in different types of weather can 216 m (NK Zavrc)ˇ and 509 m (NK Bled) above sea level.