Disease Management: a theoretical and practical approach

The main topic of the Pitch Management Seminar during the ESSMA Summit focused on disease management with presentations from Kate Entwistle - Researcher at the Turf Disease Centre - and Carlos Venegas - Groundsman at Sevilla FC.

Disease management - theoretical approach

Through strong collaboration with academic and research experts, Kate has identified new disease problems, can assess for turf parasitic nematodes and is working to understand the interaction between different parasites in the expression of turf disease. 

“With an increasing occurrence of disease problems and the loss of many effective pesticides, accurate identification of any turf problem is extremely important to implement effective management options.”

Her presentation focused on the cause of turf disease, why it is a problem in stadiums, which factors influence disease development and the available management options. 

Disease management - practical approach at Sevilla FC

In addition to Kate’s theoretical insights on disease management, Carlos shared the disease management strategy at Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán and Sevilla FC’s 12 training pitches. 

Sevilla FC’s strategic plan consists of prevention and curation. The prevention plan focuses on the cultural, biological and chemical control of the pitches.

“The disease triangle is a critical component of understanding disease pressures on a football stadium.”

Furthermore, Carlos talked more in-depth about the nutritional status of the turf, mowing, soil aeration, drainage, the effects of the environment including cold, moisture, shade & air, biostimulants and fungicide as a last option to save the pitch. 

"At GrassMaster Solutions, research for disease control has been executed since a while now. The process is still ongoing but with some very encouraging results already. Tests have shown the importance of using HPF PP fibers (High Performance Fibers of PolyPropylene origin) for stitched hybrid grass systems as they might be an important asset in order to improve disease management. PP fibers are far more resistant to extreme temperatures than other synthetic fibers, which allows the use of sterilisation procedures of GrassMaster subbases and surfaces. Sterilising subbases and surfaces might be the next big step in disease management."

Yves De Cocker, Tarkett Sports Hybrid Grass Director

Go to our ESSMA Flickr account for more pictures.

Access their presentations on the ESSMA Knowledge Platform