Shade grass mixture awarded

BARENBRUG AWARDED FOR INNOVATIVE GRASS BREEDING

Specialist seed breeder Barenbrug Holland has won the prestigious Dutch Institute for Local Sports and Recreation Richard Huberts Innovation Award 2003.

Fighting off stiff competition and commended by the technical jury for going one step further than just providing improved shady growth the winner was the grass seed mixture Shadow, marketed in the UK as Bar Shade. The judges underlined that unlike other mixtures on the market Shadow offers diversity in many areas.

Shadow (Bar Shade) includes the tufted hair grass Barcampsia that was bred by the company. It is the first commercially available cultivar of tufted hair grass. The mixture also contains the strong creeping red fescue Salsa (40 per cent) and 20 per cent Bardur, a hard fescue.

Due to good wear tolerance and the strong sward it produces, Barcampsia is ideal for producing excellent sports fields in combination with perennial ryegrass and red fescues. Barcampsia has already been used by Manchester City FC and the Manchester Marroitt Golf Club for its shaded tees and in Holland in the new grass mixture in the Amsterdam Arena.

The Richard Huberts Innovation Award is a highly valued accolade in the field of construction, composition and maintenance of sports and recreational facilities and public areas. By organising this annual competition the Dutch Institute for Local Sports and Recreation aims to stimulate the search for new products and more efficient applications.

Barenbrug UK: Telephone: 01359 272000, fax: 01359 272001, email: info@baruk.co.uk website: www.barenbrug.co.uk