Vernon, Texas
November 26, 2007
Source:
Texas Cooperative
Extension
A pasture improvement research
program by Dr. Dariusz Malinowski has him looking at
summer-dormant tall fescue grasses as an alternative to winter
wheat pastures.
But these aren’t the typical tall fescue grasses grown in many
parts of the nation, said Malinowski, a Texas Agricultural
Experiment Station forage agronomist in Vernon. They are from
the Mediterranean Basin of southern Europe and northern Africa.
“Our climate is changing here,” he said. “It’s been getting
warmer and drier since the mid-90s.”
This climate change has made wheat-grasses and wheat pasture a
less-viable option than in the past, Malinowski said. In his
search for a replacement option, summer-dormant cool-season
perennial grasses that start turning green and grow with the
first rains in September are showing the most promise.
The Mediterranean summer-dormant cool-season perennial grasses
such as tall fescue, orchardgrass, ryegrass and hardinggrass
grow under conditions of mild winters and hot, dry and long
summers, he said.
At one time, the southern Great Plains had its peak rainfalls in
May and September, but that precipitation pattern doesn’t exist
now, Malinowski said.
“This year is one of the many examples,” he said. “Wheat is not
growing because there has been no moisture. So we think these
perennial summer-dormant grasses are a viable option.”
Malinowski said the plots he planted seven years ago at the
beginning of the research are still thriving. One year the plots
only received 15 inches of rain, which is similar to the
rainfall where they originated.
Work by Malinowski and his forage program team, in a partnership
with AgResearch
Grasslands of New Zealand, has led to two cultivars of
summer-dormant tall fescue being introduced to the U.S. market:
Grasslands Flecha MaxQ (AgResearch
Grasslands New Zealand/Pennington
Seeds) and Prosper (Heritage
Seeds, Australia / Barenbrug
USA).
A second part of the pasture improvement option is using annual
legumes mixed with the summer-dormant tall fescue grasses. The
legumes are used to access nitrogen in the air and may reduce
the need for high rates of fertilizer.
Reducing nitrogen fertilization in grasslands is a challenge,
Malinowski said. In traditional grass-legume mixtures, the
perennial grasses and legumes compete for the limited moisture,
and in this region the result is one or the other dying off.
In cooperation with Dr. Keith Widdup of AgResearch Grasslands
and Dr. Twain Butler of the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation at
Ardmore, Okla., the Vernon forage team began screening annual
legumes for compatibility with Flecha MaxQ in 2004.
“We have evaluated a range of species, including annual clovers,
annual medics, peas and vetches,” Malinowski said. “Annual
legumes have a similar pattern of winter-spring growth to that
of Flecha MaxQ, and they die in early summer after they reseed.
Thus, they will not compete with Flecha MaxQ for water during
summer months.”
Preliminary results show the annual Medicago species of legumes,
commonly known as annual medics, are the best companion species
for Flecha MaxQ, he said. Seed increases from the best suited
medics will result in new cultivars for release in the U.S. and
other markets in the next few years.
With the new combination of summer-dormant, tall fescue grasses
and annual medics, producers should be able to put cattle on
pastures for grazing in October, depending on moisture, and keep
them there until summer, Malinowski said.
“This is a very secure crop that won’t die out no matter how dry
it gets here in the summer,” he said.
Malinowski said he believes the optimum area for use of this
combination is between Dallas and Amarillo and east into
Oklahoma.
“If you can graze wheat in the winter, these grasses will also
work,” he said. “They are perfectly suited ... to California and
other states where summer and winter conditions at least
resemble the Mediterranean climate to restore devastated
rangeland.”
The grasses must be grazed in February and March during their
peak production, Malinowski said. When they start bloom in
mid-April, the forage quality will go down, so it is important
to use them before they bloom.
The forage quality is similar to wheat, so while cattle
weight-gain is expected to be similar, he said they do not have
any long-term data yet.
The seeds must be planted in a weed-free environment, as they
are not strong initially, he said. Also, producers who do plant
this combination will be tempted to graze it the first spring,
but are advised against doing so to give the grass time to
establish itself.
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