PhD in Crop Science - Turfgrass Science in Raleigh United States | North Carolina State University

North Carolina boasts a varied turfgrass sector spanning 2,007,100 acres. These grasses are cultivated in residential properties, highways, recreational areas, business sites, religious institutions, golf courses, educational facilities, airports, public buildings, and burial grounds. By contrast, key agricultural crops like soybeans, cotton, corn, wheat, flue-cured tobacco, and peanuts occupy 1,415,000, 810,000, 770,000, 680,000, 200,000, and 115,000 acres respectively (Brown 2000, NCDA&CS Statistics 2000). The state employs twelve turfgrass varieties, with tall fescue being predominant (covering 742,600 acres), followed by bermudagrass (246,873 acres), along with fine fescue, centipedegrass, Kentucky bluegrass, bahiagrass, annual ryegrass, perennial ryegrass, zoysiagrass, carpetgrass, bentgrass, and St. Augustinegrass. With few alternative control strategies like crop rotation, resistant plant varieties, or tillage available, North Carolina's turf professionals rely heavily on synthetic herbicides, insecticides, nematicides, and fungicides to manage pests. Turf pesticide expenditures reached $41,973,000 in 1994 (Chaffin et al. 1995).