Birdsfoot trefoil is a high-quality forage recommended for irrigated perennial pastures, either in mixtures with grasses or in pure stands. In this bulletin we report on the forage nutritive value of pure stands of birdsfoot trefoil harvested at 6week intervals, and compare it to alfalfa harvested at the same intervals. We found that the digestibility of the two forages was similar, but that al...

The grass family Poaceae includes annual species cultivated as major grain crops and perennial species cultivated as forage or turf grasses. Heat stress is a primary factor limiting growth and productivity of cool-season grass species and is becoming a more significant problem in the context of global warming. Plants have developed various mechanisms in heat-stress adaptation, including changes...

The nutrient quality of forage, particularly perennial warm-season grasses, is often lacking in trace mineral content to supply the requirements of most all classes of grazing cattle. Since forage is the most significant contributor to the trace mineral nutrition of grazing beef cattle, it is important to consider these deficits and how they may impact the performance of the cattle consuming th...

A common form of land degradation at the desert margins involves the rapid encroachment of woody plants into historic grasslands and the acceleration of soil erosion as a result of the loss of grass cover (Archer, 1989; Schlesinger et al., 1990). The conversion of perennial grasslands into desert scrublands has been documented worldwide (Van Auken, 2000; Ravi, 2008) and has important implicatio...

The relationship between the soil seed bank at the onset of the growing season and the structure of the ensuing vegetation under grazing was investigated in an eastern Mediterranean grassland. Species responses to two contrasting cattle grazing regimes were studied through plant trait analyses. Traits included plant size, phenology, seed size and germination fraction. Changes in species composi...

Compost amendment to grassland is a novel strategy proposed and demonstrated to increase ecosystem carbon (C) storage. However, the effects of compost applications on biomass production and plant diversity are not well known. We assessed impacts of a onetime compost amendment over 4 yr on plant dynamics in two grazed grassland ecosystems in California: a coastal prairie and valley grassland. Th...

Quantification of the fate of carbon (C) used by plant metabolism is necessary to improve predictions of terrestrial ecosystem respiration and its sources. Here, a dual isotope ((13)C and (14)C) pulse-label was used to determine the allocation of new C to different respiratory pathways in the early and late growing seasons for two plant functional types, perennial grasses and shrubs, in the Owe...

Changes in the species composition of biotic communities may alter patterns of natural selection occurring within them. Native perennial grass species in the Intermountain West are experiencing a shift in the composition of interspecific competitors from primarily perennial species to an exotic, annual grass. Thus traits that confer an advantage to perennial grasses in the presence of novel ann...

Abstract The paper presents the research materials devoted to studying mixtures of lawn grasses when creating a recreational zone in urbanized territory Chelyabinsk region. We considered possibility qualitative indicators perennial turf by improving their cultivation technology. article deals with testing soil properties and technology growing grasses, quality evaluation territories South Ural....

Blissus occiduus Barber is an important pest of buffalograss, Buchloë dactyloides (Nuttall) Engelmann, turf. No-choice studies documented the susceptibility of selected turfgrasses, crops, and weeds to B. occiduus feeding. Highly to moderately susceptible grasses included buffalograss; yellow Setaria glauca (L.) and green foxtail Setaria viridis (L.); Kentucky bluegrass, Poa pratensis L.; peren...