Eco-Turf: Water and nutrient use efficient turfgrasses from Australian biodiversity (2007-2010)

Water use in both urban and rural communities has become an enormous environmental and social issue, and over 30% of domestic water consumption is applied outdoors. We will use Australia's unique biodiversity to select turfgrasses that maintain quality with reduced inputs of water and nutrients. We will collect about 1,000 indigenous couch grass genotypes to be characterised using physiological and genomics tools. This will allow us to understand mechanisms that give greater adaptation to low input conditions and using comparative genomics will allow us to develop DNA markers linked to traits of interest. This will enable selection of resource-efficient turf grasses and lead to Australia s first large scale turf improvement program.'',