Uday Kumar Thera, a PhD student in the turfgrass pathology lab is developing an innovative tool to help keep turfgrass green and lush. His robotic fungus zapper could ease one major burden for the managers of more than 50 mi lion acres of turfgrass landscapes across the U.S.
A significant portion of their chemical budgets (60 to 75%) goes to fungicide to control Dollar Spot, a disease which causes small, circular straw-colored patches to appear on turf. Thera wants to help turf managers control dollar spot without fungicides. He’s developed a robotic lawnmower that doesn’t cut grass but rather bombards it with UV-C light.
“UV-C is the same type of UV light that will damage your skin or cause cancer if you spend too much time in the sun,” Thera said. “It’s used sometimes to purify water, but in this case, we are using it to damage the DNA in fungus.”
The trick for Thera is figuring out how intense the light should be and how long it needs to shine in order to kill the fungus without damaging the grass. He’s running those tests now.
WORKING THE NIGHT SHIFT
Unless he’s testing his software or some other part of the system, Thera only runs his UV-C robot remotely at night. It’s a good way to avoid people out on the field playing ball, but there’s also a practical scientific reason. During the day, light waves from the sun trigger the fungus to produce UV-protective pigments and repair the DNA damage. But at night, those mechanisms aren’t triggered, and the fungus cannot recover.
“If we can control Dollar Spot effectively without using fungicides, then it will be a booming subject in the golf course industry.”
by Kimbra Cutlip
Dollar spot disease takes a toll on turf farms and golf courses but University of Maryland Plant Science PhD student Uday Kumar is coming up with innovative solutions to combat the common fungal disease.