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Lactic Acid is a Major Contributor to Dog Urine Injury in Cool‐Season Lawn Species
Author(s) -
Chang Zhihui,
Huang Shuai,
Li Deying
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
crop science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.76
H-Index - 147
eISSN - 1435-0653
pISSN - 0011-183X
DOI - 10.2135/cropsci2017.08.0487
Subject(s) - biology , urine , lolium perenne , festuca arundinacea , agronomy , zoology , perennial plant , poaceae , biochemistry
Dog ( Canis familiaris L.) urine can cause severe injury to lawns. Despite the circumstantial evidence that salts from urine are responsible, there is no known connection between a particular component of dog urine and the cause of grass injury. The objective of this study was to evaluate cool‐season lawn grasses in response to the major components of dog urine. Urea, uric acid, lactic acid, creatinine, and bilirubin were applied either separately or with auxin or kinetin to Kentucky bluegrass ( Poa pratensis L.), tall fescue ( Festuca arundinacea Schreb), and perennial ryegrass ( Lolium perenne L.). A solution containing 20 g urea L −1 and 10 g ammonium sulfate L −1 was used to simulate the levels of salinity (∼15 dS m −1 ) and total N in dog urine. This solution caused slight discoloration on leaf tips with phytotoxic levels ranging from 5 to 12%. Lactic acid at 3.5 g L −1 caused significant leaf injury on the three species, with phytotoxic levels ranging from 40 to 87%, and eventually the death of grasses and symptoms similar to dog urine patch. In conclusion, salts in dog urine caused injury, but the severity was not as high as that associated with lactic acid in dog urine.