M-4118 
A familiar scene in many urban areas. This Maryland 
lawn shows the effect of poor management. 
We need rapid, reliable tests for measuring forage 
quality. Chemical procedures are promising. But 
these procedures need to go beyond proximate feed 
analyses, which are not closely correlated with animal 
performance. 
Research is being conducted on several of the fol- 
lowing subjects; all deserve attention. 
® Identification of factors controlling palatability. 
® Anatomical characteristics as related to quality. 
® Isolation and study of hemicelluloses, lignin, and 
other carbohydrate fractions that influence forage 
value. 
® Kinds of plant proteins, their accumulation and 
value. 
® Development of efficient laboratory procedures 
for measuring digestibility. 
VSS 
BN—29518 
Preliminary data on disease and turf characteristics of new 
selections are obtained from small plots at Beltsville, Md. 
® Development of effective indicators for measuring 
forage intake. 
® Differences in quality attributable to maturity, 
plant parts, and season of use. 
® Influence of soil fertility, management, and envi- 
ronment on quality. 
@ Quality characteristics of species and varieties. 
Improving Turfgrasses 
Turfgrasses occupy more than 16 million acres in 
the United States. Maintaining these grasses costs an 
estimated $31 billion each year. 
Limited studies are being conducted on improving 
turfgrasses for home lawns, roadsides, cemeteries, and 
airports; and for parks, playgrounds, golf courses, and 
other recreational areas. Turfgrasses may fail to be- 
come established on these areas or they may deteriorate 
betause of disease, insects, nematodes, drought, over- 
watering, poor drainage, heavy traffic, unfavorable 
temperatures, weeds, low soil fertility, soil acidity or 
alkalinity, mowing too frequently or too closely, not 
enough light, or improper use of fertilizers, herbicides, 
or other chemicals. 
To maintain a pleasing, uniform grass cover requires 
use of adapted grass varieties plus good management. 
Unfortunately, adapted turfgrass varieties are not 
available for many regions, and management systems 
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