Tall Wheatgrass and Western Wheatgrass Used for Complementary Cool-Season Forage Systems

cftm ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 180065
Author(s):  
Keith Harmoney ◽  
John Jaeger
2014 ◽  
Vol 94 (7) ◽  
pp. 1139-1148 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Biligetu ◽  
P. G. Jefferson ◽  
R. Muri ◽  
M. P. Schellenberg

Biligetu, B., Jefferson, P. G., Muri, R. and Schellenberg, M. P. 2014. Late summer forage yield, nutritive value, compatibility of warm-and cool-season grasses seeded with legumes in western Canada. Can. J. Plant Sci. 94: 1139–1148. In late summer and fall, quality and quantity of forage are important for weight gain by grazing animals in western Canada. The objective of this study was to evaluate forage nutritive value, dry matter (DM) yield, and compatibility of crested wheatgrass [Agropyron cristatum (L.) Gaertn.], meadow bromegrass (Bromus riparius Rehm.), green needle grass [Nasella viridula (Trin.) Barkworth], northern wheatgrass [Elymus lanceolatus (Scribn. & J. G. Sm.) Gould], western wheatgrass [Pascopyrum smithii (Rydb.) Barkworth & D.R. Dewey], Russian wildrye [Psathyrostachys juncea (Fisch.) Nevski], big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii Vitman), or switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) in eight grass monocultures, and their binary mixtures with alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia Scop.), or cicer-milkvetch (Astragalus cicer L.) harvested once in August or September. A field study was conducted over a 7-yr period from 1998 to 2004 near Swift Current (lat. 50°25'N, long. 107°44'W, 824 m elev.), SK, Canada, using a randomized complete block design. Forage DM yield was similar between August and September harvests (P>0.05). Binary mixtures of alfalfa–grass produced highest (P<0.05) DM yield ranging from 2449 to 2758 kg ha−1. The monoculture of crested wheatgrass (2143 kg ha−1), sainfoin with crested wheatgrass (2061 kg ha−1), and cicer-milkvetch with green needle grass (1838 kg ha−1) or cicer-milkvetch with western wheatgrass (1861 kg ha−1) produced the second highest (P<0.05) DM yields in the ranking. The two warm-season grasses produced the lowest (P>0.05) DM yields over the 7-yr period. Monocultures of green needle grass or northern wheatgrass had the highest acid detergent fiber (ADF) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF), while warm-season grasses with legumes had the lowest. Alfalfa with western wheatgrass and alfalfa with Russian wildrye had the highest crude protein (CP) concentrations. Monocultures of meadow bromegrass, crested wheatgrass, green needle grass, or cicer-milkvetch with meadow bromegrass, and sainfoin with crested wheatgrass had the lowest CP concentrations. In vitro organic matter digestibility (IVOMD) was greater for mixtures than for the grass monocultures. Concentration of Ca and P was greater for warm-season grasses than cool-season grasses. Alfalfa with western wheatgrass was the best combination considering yield, quality, and compatibility for deferred grazing in late summer and fall in the semiarid prairies. Tested warm-season grasses are not recommended for seeding as binary mixtures with legumes for southwestern Saskatchewan.


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 87-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katie L. Wirt ◽  
Rodney G. Lym

When invasive weeds are removed with herbicides, revegetation of native species is often desirable. The extended soil activity of aminocyclopyrachlor is important for long-term weed control but could reduce recovery of native species as well. The effect of aminocyclopyrachlor applied alone or with chlorsulfuron on cool- and warm-season grass species commonly used for revegetation was evaluated. The cool-season grasses included green needlegrass, intermediate wheatgrass, and western wheatgrass, whereas the warm-season grasses were big bluestem, sideoats grama, and switchgrass. A separate experiment was conducted for each species. Aminocyclopyrachlor was applied at 91 to 329 g ha−1 alone or with chlorsulfuron from 42 to 133 g ha−1 approximately 30 d after emergence. Warm-season grasses generally were more tolerant of aminocyclopyrachlor than the cool-season grasses evaluated in this study. Switchgrass and big bluestem were the most tolerant of the warm-season species when aminocyclopyrachlor was applied at 168 g ha−1 and averaged 199 and 150% forage production, respectively, compared with the control. Green needlegrass was the most tolerant cool-season grass. Western wheatgrass was the least tolerant species evaluated because forage production only averaged 32% of the control the year after treatment and thus would not be suitable for seeding if aminocyclopyrachlor was applied. The effect of chlorsulfuron applied with aminocyclopyrachlor varied by grass species. For example, green needlegrass injury 8 wk after treatment (WAT) averaged 30 and 48% when aminocylopyrachlor was applied alone, respectively, but injury was reduced to less than 16% when aminocyclopyrachlor was applied with chlorsulfuron. However, injury on the less-tolerant intermediate wheatgrass ranged from 48 to 92% by 4 WAT when aminocyclopyrachlor was applied alone and from 60 to 86% when chlorsulfuron was included in the treatment.


EDIS ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jose C.B. Dubeux ◽  
Nicolas DiLorenzo ◽  
Kalyn Waters ◽  
Jane C. Griffin

Florida has 915,000 beef cows and 125,000 replacement heifers (USDA, 2016). Developing these heifers so that they can become productive females in the cow herd is a tremendous investment in a cow/calf operation, an investment that takes several years to make a return. The good news is that there are options to develop heifers on forage-based programs with the possibility of reducing costs while simultaneously meeting performance targets required by the beef industry. Mild winters in Florida allows utilization of cool-season forages that can significantly enhance the performance of grazing heifers. During the warm-season, integration of forage legumes into grazing systems will provide additional nutrients to meet the performance required to develop a replacement heifer to become pregnant and enter the mature cow herd. In this document, we will propose a model for replacement heifer development, based on forage research performed in trials at the NFREC Marianna.   


Author(s):  
K.H. Widdup ◽  
T.L. Knight ◽  
C.J. Waters

Slow establishment of caucasian clover (Trifolium ambiguum L.) is hindering the use of this legume in pasture mixtures. Improved genetic material is one strategy of correcting the problem. Newly harvested seed of hexaploid caucasian clover germplasm covering a range of origins, together with white and red clover and lucerne, were sown in 1 m rows in a Wakanui soil at Lincoln in November 1995. After 21 days, the caucasian clover material as a group had similar numbers of emerged seedlings as white clover and lucerne, but was inferior to red clover. There was wide variation among caucasian clover lines (48-70% seedling emergence), with the cool-season selection from cv. Monaro ranked the highest. Recurrent selection at low temperatures could be used to select material with improved rates of seedling emergence. Red clover and lucerne seedlings produced significantly greater shoot and root dry weight than caucasian and white clover seedlings. Initially, caucasian clover seedlings partitioned 1:1 shoot to root dry weight compared with 3:1 for white clover. After 2 months, caucasian clover seedlings had similar shoot growth but 3 times the root growth of white clover. Between 2 and 5 months, caucasian clover partitioned more to root and rhizome growth, resulting in a 0.3:1 shoot:root ratio compared with 2:1 for white clover. Both clover species had similar total dry weight after 5 months. Unhindered root/ rhizome devel-opment is very important to hasten the establishment phase of caucasian clover. The caucasian clover lines KZ3 and cool-season, both selections from Monaro, developed seedlings with greater shoot and root growth than cv. Monaro. KZ3 continued to produce greater root growth after 5 months, indicating the genetic potential for improvement in seedling growth rate. Different pasture estab-lishment techniques are proposed that take account of the seedling growth characteristics of caucasian clover. Keywords: establishment, genetic variation, growth, seedling emergence, Trifolium ambiguum


Crop Science ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas A. Johnson ◽  
Kay H. Asay ◽  
Larry L. Tieszen ◽  
James R. Ehleringer ◽  
Paul G. Jefferson
Keyword(s):  

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document