THE grass doesn鈥檛 grow under Lewis Mander鈥檚 feet. Mander, a chemist from the Australian National University in Canberra, has developed a version of a plant growth hormone which keeps grass lush and green but slows its growth to about a third of its normal rate.
The hormone, which is applied in a water-based spray, promises to reduce the amount of fertiliser, watering and mowing that grass requires. It is expected to be a boon for golf courses, parks, gardens and sports grounds.
Three chemicals companies, one in Britain and two in mainland Europe, are testing the hormone on cereal crops in the hope that they can make the plants stocky and robust rather than tall and straggly. According to Mander, crops such as wheat, barley and oats may grow too vigorously in fertile soils and in regions with heavy rainfall. 鈥淭he plants can become top-heavy with seeds and fall to the ground where they are prone to fungal infections,鈥� he says. 鈥淎t the moment, chemicals are often applied to inhibit growth but these are not always environmentally friendly.鈥�
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Mander鈥檚 growth-inhibiting compound is derived from a natural plant hormone called gibberellic acid. He has been working on gibberellins, which regulate plant growth and flowering, for more than thirty years.
Recently he discovered an impurity in a sample of gibberellic acid sent from the University of Calgary, Canada, which he then synthesised to obtain larger quantities. The impurity was found to block the elongated growth of stems. Experiments by the Division of Plant Industry in Canberra, part of Australia鈥檚 national research organisation, CSIRO, showed that the hormone reduced the number of times grasses such as Kentucky bluegrass and rye-grass needed mowing by as much as 75 per cent.
Last week Mander was named the winner of the Royal Society of Chemistry鈥檚 1994 Industrial Award for synthetic organic chemistry.
