Made in New Jersey: World Cup games played on Rutgers turfgrass
For the FIFA World Cup, 10 of the 16 stadiums — from Philadelphia to Mexico City — will be using turfgrass that was first grown and tested in New Jersey.
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For the FIFA World Cup, 10 of the 16 stadiums — from Philadelphia to Mexico City — will be using turfgrass that was first grown and tested in New Jersey.
A team at the Rutgers Research Farm in Freehold has spent years perfecting the World Cup turfgrass, a Kentucky bluegrass variety that performs best in Northeastern weather conditions.
Researchers test the grass for color, ball bounce and roll, and overall durability, evaluating roughly 51,000 varieties.
They even use a machine called a "wear simulator" that repeatedly runs over the grass to mimic the impact of cleats and the wear and tear of a high-intensity soccer match.
"We collect turf grasses from all over the world, and we screen them for drought tolerance, heat tolerance, salt tolerance, wear tolerance — any stress you could imagine," said Dr. Stacy Bonos, the director of Rutgers' turfgrass breeding program . "And we put those best selections together, cross them, look at the next generation and, in the end, develop stress-tolerant turf grasses that can be used throughout the world."
