Clubs that exercises sport on natural turf surfaces desire a high-quality playing surface. The quality of the pitch depends on the way it is constructed and maintained which in its turn depends on the allocated budget. Soil conditioners are often added to the top layer to increase certain soil physical, biological and/or chemical characteristics.
The objective of this this master thesis by Lennert Nachtergaele was trifold:
To map a series of soil conditioners available on the market and to list their proclaimed benefits and respective cost prices.
To study the effect of these soil conditioners on grass growth under greenhouse conditions.
To link the observed benefits of the soil conditioners to their unit price, application rate and the total budget required during sports turf construction.
The TerraCottem Turf soil conditioner was also included in the thesis research work and scored overall best. This document summarises the conclusions of that research work: