Hybid grass (could reduce flooding)

[Alpha1]

A hybrid
farmland
grass,
developed by
a team of UK
researchers,
could help
reduce
flooding, a
study has
shown.
A team of
plant and soil
scientists said
tests showed
the new
cultivar
reduced run-off by 51%,
compared with a variety widely
used to feed livestock.
They added that rapid growth
and well developed root systems
meant that more moisture was
retained within the soil rather
than running into river systems.
The findings appear in the
journal Scientific Reports.
The novel grass is a hybrid of
perennial ryegrass (Lollium
perenne) - which is widely
planted by farmers for grazing
livestock - and meadow fescue
(Festuca pratensis), which has
environmental stress-resistant
characteristics.
Greener grass
Co-author Kit Macleod, senior
research scientist at the James
Hutton Institute based in
Aberdeen, said a long-term
project had been developing
novel forage grasses but their
environmental benefits had not
really been tested.
"So I had the idea to... set up an
experiment to look at how these
novel grasses could be good for
not only production from a
farmer's perspective but also
reducing run-off," he told BBC
News.
"There is a lot of interest in how
we manage agricultural
landscapes to produce multiple
benefits - particularly in relation
to environmental stresses, such
as changing precipitation and
temperature patterns."
Over a two-year period at the
Rothamsted Research site in
North Devon, the team found
that the hybrid grass reduced
run-off by up to 51% compared
with perennial ryegrass and by
43% compared with meadow
fescue.
"We think that how [the runoff
was reduced] was to do with
changes in the soil structure,
and how this grass changed
that," Dr Macleod explained.
"It creates more storage capacity
for water. Over a two-year
experiment, we saw that there
was a change in the soil
structure as a result of a wetting
and drying of the soil in clay-rich
soils, and that can increase the
amount of structure and hence
storage of water.
"But also the rapid growth of
the roots, which these Festuca
are well known for, suggested
that it had created extra
structure to increase the storage
capacity."
However, he was keen to stress
that the grass was not a "magic
bullet" that could prevent
flooding; it would only help
reduce the volume of run-off
from grazing meadows into
flood-prone areas of river
systems.

 

[flameboard]

Some questions come into my mind...
Could it become an invasive species?
How would native plant life compete with this grass?
In years of low rain will we have to worry about the grass sucking up the water? (just a few years ago I remember people were complaining about no enough water in the Indus River)