Selection procedure for turfgrass in New Incheon International Airport

The back-filled soil of the New Incheon International Airport in South Korea construction site was reclaimed with sea sand from the bottom of the sea and with sludge from along the bank of an inlet near Yongjong Island. The objective of this study was to investigate soil change to improve the soil properties where plant growth was limited by salts. The experiment was carried out from August 1993 to June 1997 to restore soil bases (SL, a base constructed using dredged sludge along the bank of an inlet; SD, a base constructed using dredged sea sand at the bottom of the sea; SDC, a base constructed using dredged sea sand at the bottom of the sea with 2 ton ha^-1 calcium hydroxide; SDCD, a based constructed using dredged sea sand at the bottom of the sea with 2 ton ha^-1 calcium hydroxide and with an established closed drainage system at 30 cm depth) and to select salt tolerance turfgrass species (Puccinella distans; Zoysia sinica; Zoysia japonica; CSG I, a combination of cool season grasses I with Festuca arundinacea 50% + Lolium perenne 30% + Agrotis alba 20% by weight; CSG II, a combination of cool season grasses II with Festuca arundinacea 50% + Festuca rubra 50% by weight) for a low maintenance area that included most of the open space of the airport site. In our study, soil salinity did not significantly affect the growth of turfgrass without irrigation in the dry season over the five years. The salinity decreased under 1 dS m^-1 in 70 days on bases SD, SDC, and SDCD only with rainfall. Zoysia sinica and Zoysia japonica had a higher turfgrass coverage than Puccinella distans, CSG I and CSG II.