MLSN (Minimum Level for Sustainable Nutrition)

MLSN (Minimum Level for Sustainable Nutrition) are minimum nutrient levels for sustainable nutrition in sports surfaces, suitable for the correct development of natural sports surfaces and aimed at achieving an optimised fertilisation strategy to improve the efficiency of the resources used.

This new guide is a recent development, arising from the industry's need to find more realistic ranges than the mainly theoretical references that already existed. They are intended to be a universal guide for more than 10 common species and hundreds of grass crops around the world.

Conventional guidelines were adapted from agricultural crop biblography (Carrow et al., 2004). It was known that such guidelines were overestimated and difficult to achieve, but the low cost of fertilisers for the industry at the time allowed its establishment. Now, the new MLSNs are emerging as a solution to this controversy. The research has been carried out by two of the world's leading and most influential sports turf research centres, namely Pace Turf y Asian Turfguard Centerthanks to the work of Dr. Micah S. Woods, Dr. Larry J. Stowell and Dr. Wendy D. Gelernter.

The MSLN establishes minimum amounts of nutrients, extracted by soil test with Mehllich III extracting agent, below which it would be considered insufficient for a correct development of the different natural grass sports surfaces.

It will therefore be necessary to apply the amounts of fertiliser necessary to cover these minimums plus the estimated amount that the areas will need for normal growth until the next fertiliser application. Nitrogen is excluded from this guide, as its recommendation is made according to the desired growth in each situation.

The following is a comparison between the conventional thresholds of the sports grounds maintenance guidelines and the MSLN levels:

Tiloom recommends the use of MSLN references in order to obtain a more efficient fertiliser application. In order to follow up the soil maintenance strategy, we recommend to do the following standard soil nutrient analysis.