A team of U.K. researchers has developed a new form of hybrid grassland that could reduce flooding, reports BBC
Flooding is a growing concern, destroying houses and crops. To tackle this problem, a team of U.K. researchers has developed a new form of hybrid grassland that could reduce flooding. They have already tested the newly developed grass and have found a 51 percent reduction in flooding. According to scientists, the rapid growth and well-developed root systems of the grass meant that more moisture was retained within the soil rather than running into river systems.
Co-author Kit Macleod, senior research scientist at the James Hutton Institute based in Aberdeen, said a long-term project had been developed but their environmental benefits had not really been tested.
"So I had the idea to... set up an experiment to look at how these novel grasses could be good for not only production from a farmer's perspective but also reducing run-off," he told BBC News. "There is a lot of interest in how we manage agricultural landscapes to produce multiple benefits - particularly in relation to environmental stresses, such as changing precipitation and temperature patterns."
According to Macleod, the reduction in flooding is due to the soil structure of the new grass. He reveals that it has more storage capacity for water.
"Also the rapid growth of the roots, which these Festuca are well known for, suggested that it had created extra structure to increase the storage capacity."
The researcher, however, clarifies that this new grassland is not a "magic bullet" that prevents hundred percent flooding, but only helps reduce it.
