In-house Golf Green Organic Matter Measurement

Luqi Li Author

08/03/2020 Added

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Eric Chestnut - In-house Golf Green Organic Matter Measurement

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[00:00:04.531](upbeat music)
[00:00:12.350]Hello everyone,
[00:00:13.183]I'm Eric Chestnut.
[00:00:14.160]I'm a Research Technologist and PhD student
[00:00:16.550]here at the University of Nebraska.
[00:00:18.600]And today I'm gonna tell you about
[00:00:19.903]a USGA-funded research project that we've been working on.
[00:00:23.470]The idea behind the project
[00:00:24.850]is to use hydrogen peroxide and other items
[00:00:27.410]that are commonly found in maintenance shops
[00:00:29.780]to see if we can estimate the amount of organic matter
[00:00:32.170]in putting greens.
[00:00:33.870]So this is the first year of this project,
[00:00:35.880]and I'm gonna be showing you some pictures and videos
[00:00:38.320]about the methods that you've been using so far.
[00:00:41.690]This is a study that we've initiated this year,
[00:00:45.250]which we're calling
[00:00:46.090]In-house Golf Course Putting Green
[00:00:48.290]Organic Matter Measurement.
[00:00:50.910]This project, as I said,
[00:00:52.390]was initiated this year.
[00:00:54.360]So the majority of what I'm gonna go over here
[00:00:56.870]is our method leading up to getting data.
[00:00:59.700]And then by the time that the NTA conference
[00:01:03.010]rolls around this winter we'll have some,
[00:01:06.010]some data for you.
[00:01:08.670]So the objective of this study
[00:01:10.730]was to create a method to measure organic matter
[00:01:13.890]in putting greens using hydrogen peroxide,
[00:01:17.530]and items that are either already available
[00:01:20.810]or can easily be acquired
[00:01:23.550]at any maintenance facility.
[00:01:26.710]The reason that we wanted do this is
[00:01:28.690]is because in the literature we found that
[00:01:32.680]hydrogen peroxide has been used in the past
[00:01:35.010]as a way to degrade organic matter,
[00:01:37.750]usually in higher concentrations,
[00:01:40.100]which I'll go over later.
[00:01:41.950]But we thought that maybe using lower concentrations,
[00:01:46.300]like a standard hydrogen peroxide
[00:01:48.260]that you could get from any pharmacy and
[00:01:51.740]typical items that you might find in a research facility,
[00:01:54.360]you could measure organic matter in your putting greens,
[00:01:58.090]at least to a relative degree,
[00:01:59.530]and without having to send them off to a lab,
[00:02:03.190]get those,
[00:02:04.100]you know, wait for those samples to get tested,
[00:02:07.170]pay for them,
[00:02:08.003]wait to get the results back.
[00:02:09.750]So this is intended to be a quick and easy method
[00:02:15.010]to be able to measure
[00:02:16.710]the organic matter in your putting greens
[00:02:19.390]on your course.
[00:02:22.430]So, for phase one of this method,
[00:02:24.980]first, we need proof of concept.
[00:02:27.170]And to do that,
[00:02:28.460]we need to create samples
[00:02:30.610]with known percent organic matter in them
[00:02:33.730]in order to test and make sure
[00:02:35.790]that our methods actually work.
[00:02:38.500]So in order to do this,
[00:02:42.350]the first thing that we needed to do
[00:02:43.530]is go out and collect a bunch of cores.
[00:02:45.960]We just took a standard cup cutter,
[00:02:48.100]and I went to our research facility up in Mead, Nebraska,
[00:02:53.780]on a old creeping bank grass putting green
[00:02:56.960]that was known to be pretty thatchy.
[00:02:58.850]So knew that I had quite a bit of organic matter
[00:03:01.150]to work with there.
[00:03:03.070]But yeah, that was the first step
[00:03:04.410]is just to go out and collect samples.
[00:03:07.220]Step two in this process was to dry them.
[00:03:09.900]In all the literature it suggests drying up.
[00:03:12.580]It makes it easier to shred,
[00:03:14.410]which you'll see later.
[00:03:16.910]And so we did that at 150 degrees Fahrenheit
[00:03:20.550]for at least three hours.
[00:03:21.760]Usually I would leave them in there overnight
[00:03:24.390]just to make sure all the moisture is out of those.
[00:03:28.040]And,
[00:03:29.220]then the next step was to shred them by hand,
[00:03:32.960]and to knock off as much sand as possible.
[00:03:35.940]As I said, the idea behind this phase one
[00:03:38.970]is to create samples of known percentage organic matter.
[00:03:43.280]And so in order to do that,
[00:03:44.840]we need to isolate organic matter from the sand
[00:03:49.000]so that we can have only organic matter and only sand
[00:03:52.490]and then mix those two components together
[00:03:55.870]to create our known percentage.
[00:03:58.410]And so removing the sand from these samples
[00:04:01.710]proved to be quite the task,
[00:04:03.100]which you'll see in the next few steps here.
[00:04:08.560]So once they were shredded
[00:04:10.230]and knocked off all the loose sand,
[00:04:12.230]first, we put them into a
[00:04:14.890]large food processor
[00:04:17.620]and grinded them up,
[00:04:20.130]as you see here.
[00:04:24.260]And then our next step was to move from that large processor
[00:04:28.390]and make the particles even finer.
[00:04:31.400]I moved them to a smaller STC
[00:04:33.310]four inch diameter food processor,
[00:04:36.910]so that
[00:04:38.100]the idea is to create the pieces that are so small,
[00:04:41.230]that they'll pass through a two millimeter sieve,
[00:04:43.260]which is a number 10 sieve.
[00:04:45.520]And so moving it to the smaller food processor
[00:04:49.120]that you see here,
[00:04:51.300]and grinding those up,
[00:04:55.320]so that when they're done processing through those two,
[00:05:00.220]through those two grinders,
[00:05:01.640]then you wind up with something like what you see here,
[00:05:04.820]which just looks like a bunch of grass and organic matter,
[00:05:08.330]which is really exactly what it is.
[00:05:11.670]And for our next phase,
[00:05:13.320]as I said, we wanted to separate the organic matter
[00:05:16.520]from any sand that may be in there.
[00:05:18.610]And so even though we've grinded it up
[00:05:20.210]and I've pulled all of the large particles out that I could,
[00:05:23.680]there's still sand that's stuck to those particles,
[00:05:26.170]or that would be mixed in the sample.
[00:05:29.040]And so the next step was to float
[00:05:32.190]all of this in a large tub of water because
[00:05:35.700]the organic matter particles,
[00:05:37.380]the majority of them at least,
[00:05:38.810]and what we need for this part of the project,
[00:05:40.950]will float will stay at the top,
[00:05:43.330]and all the sand particles, which are heavier,
[00:05:45.720]will obviously sink below the water level.
[00:05:48.340]And then we can scoop that out.
[00:05:50.210]And so that looks something like this,
[00:05:53.660]just a large tub filled with organic matter particles.
[00:05:59.270]And then the process
[00:06:02.295]of scooping it out
[00:06:05.350]and putting it through a strainer,
[00:06:09.450]went something like this.
[00:06:14.350]So as you can see,
[00:06:15.300]I'm not getting a whole lot of sample there every time.
[00:06:18.780]And so this proved to be quite the time-consuming process,
[00:06:23.760]but in the end,
[00:06:25.700]we wind up with something like this,
[00:06:27.550]which I know doesn't look very dissimilar
[00:06:30.670]from what you just saw.
[00:06:32.940]However,
[00:06:34.460]it was effective.
[00:06:35.740]And I'll give you just a few numbers on that
[00:06:38.300]in just a minute here.
[00:06:40.750]And so once we had the organic matter isolated
[00:06:46.850]in that process,
[00:06:48.220]then we use loss-on-ignition combustion
[00:06:52.210]at 680 degrees Fahrenheit for at least two hours,
[00:06:56.540]went between two and three hours,
[00:06:59.476]to determine how much sand was left in those samples,
[00:07:02.200]and if we were isolating the organic matter properly,
[00:07:05.750]or if there were still a bunch of sand in it
[00:07:07.450]and I was wasting my time and none of that even mattered.
[00:07:11.330]And so this is what our,
[00:07:15.120]muffled furnace looks like
[00:07:16.450]that can get up to that high temperature
[00:07:19.360]and afterward,
[00:07:22.860]so what I put in there prior was what you had seen
[00:07:25.470]just the regular organic matter
[00:07:27.130]after it had been floated and dried.
[00:07:29.600]And then after it comes out of the muffle furnace,
[00:07:31.710]it just gets ashed into pretty much what you see here.
[00:07:35.100]And,
[00:07:36.430]luckily, it seems to be working,
[00:07:39.090]I've tested a bunch of these samples and it seems that
[00:07:43.360]pretty consistently we're around 90%
[00:07:46.980]of the sample is organic matter
[00:07:48.860]and was combusted in this process.
[00:07:52.570]So that just means that
[00:07:55.070]when we create our known percentage,
[00:07:58.860]then we can just add an extra 10%
[00:08:01.950]and make up for that difference.
[00:08:06.260]So,
[00:08:07.093]now that we're done with phase one of the project,
[00:08:10.080]and we know that we can accurately isolate organic matter
[00:08:14.970]from any sand particles that might be there,
[00:08:18.130]we can move on to phase two.
[00:08:19.640]Phase two would be validating our experimental procedures
[00:08:23.460]in which we mix samples at predetermined percentages
[00:08:27.250]using the organic matter from phase one,
[00:08:30.560]and also bulk sand
[00:08:32.200]that we've sieved through a 10 millimeter screen.
[00:08:34.470]So it'll be like a number 10 sand.
[00:08:36.700]And we mix those two together at three and 6% organic matter
[00:08:43.280]to test our future experimental procedures.
[00:08:47.950]We chose three and 6%
[00:08:49.710]just because we wanted to have a couple of different options
[00:08:52.110]to see if maybe one method works best
[00:08:55.390]at a higher percentage,
[00:08:57.450]but not a lower or a lower and not a higher.
[00:08:59.780]And so we just wanted to make sure
[00:09:01.210]that we had that part of it covered.
[00:09:03.480]And after we mix those samples,
[00:09:05.300]we can run through our testing procedures,
[00:09:08.150]those being loss-on-ignition,
[00:09:09.970]which is the standard procedure
[00:09:12.320]that will be done in any lab.
[00:09:13.870]If you send samples to be analyzed,
[00:09:17.430]they're gonna use loss-on-ignition,
[00:09:19.230]as I showed you in part one; Combustion Procedures,
[00:09:22.180]to determine that.
[00:09:23.790]And then our experimental methods
[00:09:25.190]are using hydrogen peroxide.
[00:09:27.120]And our methods are gonna be modified
[00:09:29.740]from a couple of different sources that you see here.
[00:09:32.840]And we're gonna be using three,
[00:09:34.910]six and 30% hydrogen peroxide.
[00:09:38.530]We're gonna be heating those at various temperatures,
[00:09:41.460]and with various time intervals of agitation,
[00:09:46.020]to see if we can find a method
[00:09:48.510]somewhere in between these that works because the,
[00:09:52.570]the literature that's on the screen right there,
[00:09:55.470]the methods are good for lab only,
[00:09:57.960]but as I stated,
[00:09:59.050]our objective for this project
[00:10:01.310]is to make this practical and to not have to use,
[00:10:06.030]you know,
[00:10:07.190]the equipment that you would only find in a lab.
[00:10:09.340]To be able to use equipment
[00:10:10.580]that you would find in a maintenance facility,
[00:10:12.970]to do these procedures.
[00:10:15.280]So we're still in the process of figuring that out
[00:10:18.290]and testing and doing things here and there
[00:10:21.410]to see what we can find.
[00:10:23.230]But,
[00:10:24.670]what we do have
[00:10:26.280]are some videos.
[00:10:27.230]So this is
[00:10:29.200]a video of the
[00:10:32.470]30% hydrogen peroxide,
[00:10:35.030]which is like a lab-grade hydrogen peroxide.
[00:10:38.750]And,
[00:10:40.690]so for this,
[00:10:42.210]this was just the testing
[00:10:44.610]and we used
[00:10:48.190]five milliliters of hydrogen peroxide
[00:10:51.460]at various time intervals,
[00:10:54.640]mostly based on bubbling.
[00:10:58.160]So,
[00:10:59.010]you put in five or 10 milliliters at a time,
[00:11:01.850]wait for the bubbling,
[00:11:03.090]I think you could see it there,
[00:11:04.170]it's already starting to foam up,
[00:11:07.250]which means that it's activating.
[00:11:08.800]So, you add five or 10 milliliters at a time,
[00:11:12.780]agitate it,
[00:11:13.850]and wait for the bubbling to subside,
[00:11:15.740]and then add another five or 10,
[00:11:16.990]and keep doing that,
[00:11:18.000]until it doesn't do that at air temperature any longer,
[00:11:22.310]and then put it in an oven.
[00:11:24.470]Here's another video of a little closer,
[00:11:27.790]a little better view,
[00:11:29.600]of this procedure.
[00:11:38.040]So here's another video,
[00:11:39.590]a little bit closer view,
[00:11:41.570]again, of post
[00:11:45.620]post addition of the 30% hydrogen peroxide
[00:11:49.360]and agitation.
[00:11:50.690]And I think this really shows well
[00:11:52.770]how much bubbling can occur,
[00:11:54.730]which is,
[00:11:55.563]which means that it's working,
[00:11:56.680]it's degrading the organic matter.
[00:11:59.590]And then as I said,
[00:12:00.570]you just keep doing this until bubbling subsides
[00:12:04.000]at room temperature and then,
[00:12:06.520]we move it to an oven
[00:12:08.540]and heat it up and
[00:12:09.910]continue this process.
[00:12:12.350]And so, as I said,
[00:12:14.030]we don't have this exactly perfected yet,
[00:12:17.850]but we're certainly working on it
[00:12:19.440]and hope to have some data for you.
[00:12:21.920]And once we finish up our experimental procedures
[00:12:25.140]and validate and make sure that this actually works,
[00:12:28.530]then we can move on to phase three,
[00:12:29.980]which is our Variable Samples.
[00:12:32.390]Which include
[00:12:34.040]collection of samples of unknown percent organic matter.
[00:12:37.070]So from our putting greens on East campus
[00:12:40.180]and at the John Seaton Anderson Turf Research Facility.
[00:12:44.800]Number two here that I've highlighted in red
[00:12:46.930]volunteer golf courses.
[00:12:48.190]So, any of you that are interested in this
[00:12:50.530]and wouldn't mind taking
[00:12:53.350]wouldn't mind me coming out and taking some standard,
[00:12:56.350]just the small one inch diameter,
[00:12:59.910]maybe 20-inch depth soil core samples
[00:13:02.300]that we can use for our lab,
[00:13:04.840]it would be much appreciated.
[00:13:06.310]So,
[00:13:07.300]I'm sure we'll send out an email in the future
[00:13:09.290]when we're ready for that.
[00:13:11.000]But again, your,
[00:13:13.450]your volunteering is much appreciated.
[00:13:17.130]And then once we get these variable samples,
[00:13:19.570]then we can go through all this again and validate
[00:13:22.360]and make sure that this actually works.
[00:13:24.350]Hopefully we can come up with a good method
[00:13:26.160]for everyone to use
[00:13:29.790]and not have to send out samples to a lab all the time.
[00:13:33.350]With that,
[00:13:34.560]think I'm all wrapped up here.
[00:13:36.320]I just wanna thank the USGA for funding this project.
[00:13:40.070]And thank you very much for listening.

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In-house Golf Green Organic Matter Measurement

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