Page 24 - GM Summer flipbook 2024

uFEATUREuPHIL DWYER, PH.D. AND JOEY CAUCEGLIA, PH.D., NANO-YIELD/TURF NANOTECH
New nano for turfgrass
Figure 1. Nanoscale comparing the relative size of different examples to a nanoparticle.
Ongoing advancements in the field
of nanotechnology have created product solutions across many industries with applications for: targeted drug delivery, electronics, optics, material coatings, water filtration, and now - plant nutrition. Generally speaking, nanotechnology is an area of science whose aim is to harness the unique properties of materials by engineering them into nano-sized forms for novel uses.
In agriculture, nanoparticles are being designed and engineered for enhancing both spray solutions and granular coatings to increase plant nutrient uptake. Though nano- technology has been well studied
and proven to increase agricultural yields, only now are professional turfgrass managers starting to see new types of spray adjuvants and fertilizers employ nanotechnology to benefit turf. As these new products enter the turfgrass arena, let’s dive into their science to gain an understanding of what nanotechnology is and the benefits it can provide us.
An historic issue facing foliar liquid fertilizers has been low uptake efficiencies; likewise, root uptake can be hampered by nutrient immobilization and environmental losses in the soil. After years of development, particle characteristics have been identified that combine to
form highly effective, scalable, affordable, and environmentally responsible nanomaterials designed to help solve these nutrient uptake efficiency challenges. Essentially, nanotechnology has helped offer solutions by creating tiny hollow porous nanoparticles, which act like a mineral sponge to load with nutrients and enable increased turfgrass uptake and better fertilizer delivery.
NANOPARTICLES 101
Nanoparticles (NPs) are typically defined as objects 10-100 nm in size (Figure 1), with unique properties that objects of larger sizes do not exhibit. The small size of NPs gives
24 • CGSA • GreenMaster