THE MAIN GRASSES FOR FARM AND HOME

Max M. Hoover, M. A. Hein, William A. Dayton, C. O. Erlanson

WHEATGRASSES (Agropyron species) are hardy, drought-resistant, and versatile. They produce abundant forage that is acceptable to all classes of livestock. Most of them are perennial, with or without running rootstocks. Usually the culms (stems) grow erect. The spikes resemble wheat, hence the scientific name, Agropyron, which is derived from agrios, wild, and gyros, wheat. In the United States, wheat-grasses have great value in the Northern Great Plains, the Intermountain region, and the higher altitudes of the Rocky Mountain States.

Some wheatgrasses form sod; others grow in bunches. The sod-forming species are particularly valuable for erosion control. Germination of the seed, which usually is produced in abundance, is rapid and the young seedlings may become established in competition with weeds and other grasses. This seedling vigor permits the sowing of wheatgrasses with a minimum of seedbed preparation. Often good stands have resulted when the seed was drilled in weeds or small grain stubble. Their ease of establishment and adaptation to many kinds of soils, moisture conditions, and extremes of climate make the wheatgrasses of first rank for use in plantings that are intended to protect the soil.

Early spring growth, with high production of lush forage at the season when most needed by overwintering livestock, is another good characteristic of these grasses.

The wheatgrasses have been used extensively for revegetating depleted range and abandoned farm lands. They are unexcelled for this purpose in the areas to which they are adapted. Seed is generally available, and successful methods of stand establishment are generally known and readily applicable. Many thousands of acres of previously cropped farm land in the Great Plains owe their present economic usefulness. for grazing to these hardy, nutritious grasses.

The genus Agropyron contains approximately 150 species widely distributed in temperate regions of the world. About 100 species occur in Eurasia, 30 in North America, and most of the remaining in South America. The species probably familiar to most of us is A. repens, commonly called quackgrass, which invades our cultivated fields and gardens with such aggressive persistence that it has fully earned its place in the category of weeds. Its aggressiveness, however, has been put to good use in holding soil in conservation practices.

A few of the species are annuals for which no particular use has as yet been found.

None of the group has any long period of domestication behind it the first cultivation reported dates no further back than 1895 although several of the species have long been recognized as valuable range grasses, both here and abroad. Others may furnish valuable breeding materials.

It has been demonstrated that two introduced species, A. elongatum and A. intermedium, will hybridize with common and durum wheats. Many promising possibilities are thus opened. Russian plant breeders say they have produced a perennial wheat from such crosses, but we have been unable to obtain material for trial.

CRESTED WHEATGRASS (Agropyron cristatum)

Crested wheatgrass is a hardy perennial bunchgrass that produces an abundance of both basal and stem leaves. The leaves, about one-fourth inch wide and 6 to 10 inches long, are flat, somewhat lax, and slightly hairy on the upper surface. The stems are fine and develop dense tufts about 2 to 3 feet high. The dense spikes are 2 to 3 inches long; the spikelets are closely crowded and tend to form tomblike crescents.

Crested wheatgrass is well adapted to the cool, dry areas of the Northern Great Plains, the Intermountain Region, and the higher elevations of the Rocky Mountain States. It has a widespreading, deeply penetrating root system. Partly for this reason, it can survive cold and drought, withstand grazing, and compete with weeds and associated grasses.

Crested wheatgrass usually begins growth in early spring. It ceases to grow during long, hot, dry periods of summer, but it again makes growth when moist, cool weather returns. By producing forage in early spring and early fall, when the normal growth of native grasses has not yet begun or has ended, this grass provides succulent feed when it is most needed. High palatability, good quality, and good volume of forage, combined with hardiness, drought resistance, and adaptation to widely different soil types, make crested wheatgrass one of the most valuable of forage grasses in this country.

Hay of excellent quality is obtained by cutting the plants early, just after heading and before blooming. If cutting is delayed the forage quickly becomes stemmy and less palatable. The better quality and greater feeding value of hay produced by early cutting more than offset its lesser quantity. Forage yields of crested wheatgrass are comparable to those of brome in the more moist parts of its range in the United States and are greater than those of brome in the drier parts.

Consistently good seed crops can be expected except when limited by drought. Average yields of 200 pounds of seed an acre on dry land when planted in rows and cultivated and about half that amount from solid stands on dry land have been reported.

The grain binder, combine, and swather have been used satisfactorily for seed harvest. The ordinary small grain thresher or combine with proper screen and air adjustments may be used for threshing the seed.

The normal time between seed ripening and seed shattering is about 2 weeks. When seed harvesting equipment ( such as binders or swathers) is used, field harvesting operations can be started several days before the seed has ripened sufficiently for the most efficient operation of a combine.

Threshed material as it comes from the combine or thresher separator often contains large amounts of dirt, chaff, broken straw, and clusters of seed spikelets. Spikelet clusters can be broken up by processing the seed with a hammer mill. Clean seed of good quality may be obtained by removing all foreign material with an ordinary fanning mill. The number of clean seed per pound varies from 165,000 to 200,000. A bushel of clean seed with a purity of more than 90 percent and germination of 88 percent weighs about 22 pounds.

Crested wheatgrass seedlings resist drought and withstand competition from weeds and grasses if given sufficient protection during the first 2 years of their establishment. Time of seeding varies with locality and with purpose of seeding. If sufficient moisture is present in early fall, seeding can be started in September and continued until field operations are stopped by cold weather. In the southern range of this species, spring seeding is satisfactory.

Seedbeds may be well prepared or the seed may be drilled or broadcast directly in small grain stubble, weeds, or depleted native range cover. However, when the latter methods of seeding are used, one or more additional seasons of protection are often needed for the newly established seedlings to overcome the competition of associated vegetation and arrive at the stage of readiness for use by livestock. Hence, if it is urgent that the newly seeded area be available for use in the shortest possible time, it often pays to make the additional effort needed for preparing a clean, firm seedbed.

Satisfactory stands have been obtained from solid drilling or broadcast seeding at rates of 4 to 8 pounds of clean seed per acre, depending on the density of plant stand desired. Where seed production is the major purpose of the seeding, the most satisfactory results are obtained by seeding in rows, spaced to permit cultivation. Seeding rates of 2 to 4 pounds an acre are satisfactory in making these seedings.

Since the introduction of crested wheatgrass, many hundreds of successful seedings have been made and the area of adaptation of this grass is well established. Perhaps no other forage grass has filled such an important place in our revegetation program.

Crested wheatgrass was first obtained by the Federal Government in 1898 from an experiment station in Russian Turkestan, where it was already under test. Seed of the first introduction made little impression because most of it was dissipated in trials where the conditions were unfavorable. A second and larger introduction from the same place in 1906 afforded a wider distribution of seed and, during the dry years between 1916 and 1921, the species began to attract attention in North Dakota for planting on abandoned wheat land. Commercial seed has been available since 1929.

It is long-lived; sometimes a stand is utilized as long as 25 years. Slender wheatgrass, by comparison, does poorly after about 5 years or so in permanent pastures.

Another species, A. desertorum, was apparently brought in with the seed of crested wheatgrass in 1906 and was for a long time thought to be only a strain of that species. The history of A. desertorum is similar to A. cristatum in the United States, the variety called Fairway being from A. cristatum, while the variety Standard is said to be derived from A. desertorum.

INTERMEDIATE WHEATGRASS (Agropyron intermedium)

Intermediate wheatgrass is a perennial sod-forming wheatgrass. In the few years since it was introduced by the Department of Agriculture from the Soviet Union, it has been tested extensively in the northern and central parts of the Great Plains and the Pacific Northwest. Under a wide variety of soil and climatic conditions, it shows great promise for use as a pasture and forage species throughout those regions. The species is more drought-resistant than smooth brome and somewhat less hardy and drought-resistant than crested wheatgrass.

The plants begin growth in early spring and reach a height of 3 to 4 feet before growth ceases in midsummer because of scarcity of moisture. The return of moisture and cool temperatures in the late summer brings good growth recovery.

The abundant leafy foliage is relished by all classes of livestock. Plant growth is vigorous. Established seedlings tend to form a full sod somewhat less rapidly than those of smooth brome or western wheatgrass grown under like conditions of soil and moisture.