Wednesday, November 7, 2007
271-7

Cleaning and Drill Based Establishment of Texas Bluegrass – Preliminary Results.

Jason Goldman and Phil Sims. USDA-ARS, Southern Plains Range Res. Station, 2000 18th St., Woodward, OK 73801

Texas bluegrass is a perennial, cool season, native grass of the southern plains mixed-grass prairie in Oklahoma, Texas, and southern Kansas. It is one of a few cool season grasses that have withstood for centuries the region's heat, droughts and overgrazing. It produces nutritious and palatable forage during the late fall, winter and early spring when most rangeland forages are least preferred by livestock and lowest in nutrients. Used in a complementary grazing operation, Texas bluegrass could be an economical, environmentally friendly and sustainable alternative to using winter wheat as a cool-season forage. Establishment of pastures is not routine because the seed is covered with a glutinous/cottony chaf which makes drill planting difficult. Preliminary studies have been initiated to process Texas bluegrass seed to facilitate the flow of seed through grass seed drills. A combination of specialized equipment previously developed at Woodward were used to modify the seed and facilitate the planting of Texas bluegrass. Cottony seed heads were harvested using a flail-vac harvester. The seeds were then passed through a hammer mill and cleaned in a WW2000 seed cleaner. Seeds were no-till drilled into herbicide killed wheat or feed stubble. A Truax drill was modified by replacing black corrugated feeder tubes with transparent smooth ones to improve seed flow. Planting depth was controlled with the drills hydraulic system and the half inch depth bands on the discs. Development of user-friendly Texas bluegrass seed can contribute to having an additional forage option for ranchers in the Southern plains and elsewhere. Currently, the best stands of Texas bluegrass occurred when the modified seeds were drilled in March and ample precipitation was received for at least four weeks after planting.