14th International Turfgrass Research Conference: Development and Sustainability

Abstract

The turfgrass sector does not produce food or feed, but it is nonetheless important for a more sustainable future in agreement with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as outlined in Agenda 2030 (United Nations, 2015). Among the SDGs strongly related to the turfgrass sector are SDG 3 (good health and well-being), SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation), SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities), SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production), SDG 13 (climate action), SDG 14 (life below water), SDG 15 (life on land), and SDG 17 (partnership for the goals).

The present Volume 14 of the International Turfgrass Society Research Journal (ITSRJ) contains scientific and technical papers published in conjunction with the 14th International Turfgrass Research Conference (ITRC) to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark from 10 to 15 July 2022. The conference is organized by the Scandinavian Turfgrass and Environment Research Foundation (STERF) under the auspices of the International Turfgrass Society (ITS), and with ‘Development and Sustainability’ as the overarching theme.

The ITS is a not-for-profit organization with the aim to encourage research and education in turfgrass science. Since its establishment in 1969, ITS’ main activity has been the ITRCs which are held every fourth year. The 14th ITRC was originally planned for July 2021 but had to be postponed to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Research presented at the ITRCs were initially published as proceedings, but in 1993, ITS established ITSRJ with quadrennial volumes coinciding with the conferences. From Volume 13 (2017), the ITSRJ has been in digital format only.

While ITSRJ is a fully refereed journal, its quadrennial status prohibits it from having an impact factor. For this reason, some of the papers to be presented at the 2022 ITRC have been published in special issues of Agronomy Journal (13 full papers; https://acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14350645/2021/113/5) and Crop Science (28 full papers; https://acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14350653/2021/61/5). The present main Volume 14 of ITSRJ contains 84 full papers and 37 short communications which have all been subjected to peer review by least two anonymous reviewers to ITS Standards and under the leadership of the seven Technical and 32 Associate Editors acknowledged on the following page. Nineteen Technical Papers are published in an Appendix to this main volume as they have not been subjected to a stringent peer review, but only a lenient check for language, avoidance of commercial aspects, and clarification of methods and results by ITSRJ Assistant Editor, Dr. Doug Soldat.

Through a contract between ITS and the Alliance of Crop, Soil and Environmental Science Societies (ACSESS; ASA-CSSA-SSSA), who now partners with Wiley publishing company, authors, editors, and reviewers have enjoyed the great benefits of using Wiley's publishing platform for the current volume of ITRSJ. On behalf of the ITS, I would like to thank ACSESS and Wiley, and especially Ms. Elizabeth Gebhardt and Ms. Abby Morrison for their continuous support and collaboration during the 2-yr-long editorial process caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

I'm looking forward to meeting the international turfgrass community at the 14th ITRC in Copenhagen. I consider each paper published in this volume of ITSRJ and in the accompanying ITRC issues of Agronomy Journal and Crop Science as important contributions to the fulfillment of the overall aim of the conference: The development of a sustainable turfgrass sector for the benefit of a global society.