Let There Be Light

摘要

God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw the light and he saw that light was good. (Genesis 1). Fundamentally all energy for life starts with energy from the Sun, and without light, we have no life. But light is not the only requirement, there are four other fundamentals, essential for all life processes. Warmth, air, moisture and nutrition are the remaining four of the five essential factors required to sustain life. If any one of the five is limited, growth and development of ahealthy grass plant will be limited. Of the five growth factors, warmth can be controlled through the use of undersoil heating - another topical subject given the recent loss of games due to frozen pitches; air and air movement are slightly different subjects, air would not be a limiting factor to growth in the UK but improving air movement within our stadia would aid disease management. Lack of water should not be a limiting factor with modem irrigation systems and poor drainage within the upper levels of the game should now be a thing of the past with modern sand based constructions or adequate drainage. Therefore within a stadium environment, the most significant factor limiting strong and healthy grass growth is that of adequate light levels.