NEW varieties of grass could one day be used to reduce the risk of flooding in some parts of the UK, according to a team of Devon-based scientists. The scientists from IGER (the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research) near Okehampton are about to start work on a major project to find out how the growth of grass roots affects the way water flows through soils. They hope grasses specially bred to have a deep root system could have significant benefits for farming. It is hoped the research will suggest ways of managing grassland so that it is more likely to soak up rainwater and less likely to shed it immediately in the form of surface run-off. Such a change could be highly significant because grassland covers more than a third of the UK land area. The £400,000 project, led by Prof Phil Haygarth and Dr Kit Macleod at IGER will run for three and a half years and involve joint studies with scientists at Rothamsted Research and Lancaster University. Tests will be carried out in small field plots at IGER North Wyke. The team will use a range of forage grasses to find out exactly how root systems of various types influence movement of water through the soil. ?We will plant a number of different grasses and monitor changes in soil structure and porosity, as well as measuring run-off after periods of rainfall,? Dr Macleod said. With the help of computer models, the scientists will scale up the results to try and understand how water moves through much larger areas of grassland. This will allow them to predict the large scale effects of planting different grasses, for example, or of managing grassland in different ways. ?We are very excited about the project because it links many areas of science, from plant genetics to soil-water relations,? he added. ?Starting from knowledge of the grass plant and its rooting behaviour, we aim to build an understanding of processes that take place at the scale of grassland dominated river catchments,? said Dr Macleod. ?We will also be able to make recommendations about how grassland can best be managed both to maintain its productivity and to reduce run-off surface water at critical times,? Dr Macleod said. ?This is a good example of how grassland research can be good for farming while also delivering environmental benefits.?
