TY - JOUR
T1 - Seeding rate effects on forage mass and vegetation dynamics of cool-season grass sod interseeded with sorghum-sudangrass
AU - Guretzky, John A.
AU - Redfearn, Daren D.
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: This research was funded by the University of Nebraska Agriculture Experiment Station and the USDA Hatch Multistate Project NC1181.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/12
Y1 - 2021/12
N2 - Interseeding annual warm-season grasses into perennial cool-season grasses has the potential to increase summer forage mass and nutritive value. Knowledge of how seeding rate affects annual warm-season grass establishment, forage mass, and vegetation dynamics remains limited. From 2016–2017, we conducted a field experiment evaluating the effects of seeding rates on sorghum-sudangrass (Sorghum bicolor × S. bicolor var. sudanense) density and forage mass and on the frequency of occurrence of plant species in cool-season grass sod in Lincoln, NE. The experiment had a completely randomized design consisting of six replicates of four seeding rates [0, 14, 28, and 35 kg pure live seed (PLS) ha−1 ] in sod mowed at a 2.5-cm height and one unseeded, non-mowed control treatment. Sorghum-sudangrass establishment increased with seeding rate from an average of 20 to 45 plants m−2 as the seeding rate increased from 14 to 35 kg PLS ha−1 . Forage mass depended on a seeding rate × harvest interaction, showing positive linear and cubic responses to seeding rate in consecutive harvests at 45 and 90 d after interseeding. To increase forage mass in perennial cool-season grass sod, producers should interseed sorghum-sudangrass with at least 28 kg PLS ha−1 . One-time seedings into cool-season, perennial grass sod have no residual effects on subsequent forage mass and vegetation dynamics.
AB - Interseeding annual warm-season grasses into perennial cool-season grasses has the potential to increase summer forage mass and nutritive value. Knowledge of how seeding rate affects annual warm-season grass establishment, forage mass, and vegetation dynamics remains limited. From 2016–2017, we conducted a field experiment evaluating the effects of seeding rates on sorghum-sudangrass (Sorghum bicolor × S. bicolor var. sudanense) density and forage mass and on the frequency of occurrence of plant species in cool-season grass sod in Lincoln, NE. The experiment had a completely randomized design consisting of six replicates of four seeding rates [0, 14, 28, and 35 kg pure live seed (PLS) ha−1 ] in sod mowed at a 2.5-cm height and one unseeded, non-mowed control treatment. Sorghum-sudangrass establishment increased with seeding rate from an average of 20 to 45 plants m−2 as the seeding rate increased from 14 to 35 kg PLS ha−1 . Forage mass depended on a seeding rate × harvest interaction, showing positive linear and cubic responses to seeding rate in consecutive harvests at 45 and 90 d after interseeding. To increase forage mass in perennial cool-season grass sod, producers should interseed sorghum-sudangrass with at least 28 kg PLS ha−1 . One-time seedings into cool-season, perennial grass sod have no residual effects on subsequent forage mass and vegetation dynamics.
KW - Annual warm-season grasses
KW - Cool-season grass pasture
KW - Forage management
KW - Improved pasture
KW - Pastureland
KW - Perennial cool-season grasses
KW - Permanent pasture
KW - Smooth bromegrass
KW - Tall fescue
KW - Temperate pastures
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U2 - 10.3390/agronomy11122449
DO - 10.3390/agronomy11122449
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85121662193
VL - 11
JO - Agronomy
JF - Agronomy
SN - 2073-4395
IS - 12
M1 - 2449
ER -