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Forage production and quality of 4 perennial grasses grown under and outside canopies of matureProsopis glandulosa Torr. var.glandulosa (mesquite)

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Abstract

Comparisons were made of dry matter production and forage quality of two coolseason grasses, Canada wildrye (Elymus canadensis L.), Virginia wildrye (Elymus virginicus L.), and two warm-season grasses, green panic (Panicum maximum var.trichoglume Eyles) and plains bristlegrass (Setaria leucopila Scribn. & Merr.), planted under and outside the canopies of mature honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa Torr. var.glandulosa). Green panic gave the greatest cumulative dry matter yield in both canopy (5120 kg ha−1) and open (3370 kg ha−1) locations, followed by plains bristlegrass under mesquite (1130 kg ha−1) and in the open (570 kg ha−1). One-time yields from Canada wildrye and Virginia wildrye, under and outside mesquite canopy, were 247 and 329 kg ha−1, and 272 and 268 kg ha−1, respectively. Dry matter production of green panic (p=0.001) and plains bristlegrass (p=0.026) was greater under mesquite only for the first of four harvests, although both warm-season grasses exhibited a trend for greater production under mesquite than in the open. Average nitrogen content of green panic was greater (p=0.0004) under mesquite than in the open, while plains bristlegrass exhibited a trend for greater crude protein content in the open than under mesquite. Overall, moisture content of the warm-season grasses was greater (p=0.0001) under mesquite than in the open, while Virginia wildrye was more (p=0.002) succulent under mesquite than in the open. Averagein-vitro dry matter digestibility of warm-season grasses was almost significantly greater (p=0.0501) in the open than under mesquite. Canopy soils contained significantly more organic C (p=0.0004) and total N (p=0.0001) than open soils, with differences of 8.3 Mg organic C ha−1 and 1.3 Mg total N ha−1. Correlations indicated that soil fertility was more limiting to grass production than light intensity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Rangeland Ecology and Management, Texas A & M University, 77840, College Station, TX, USA

    R. M. East & P. Felker

  2. Center for Semi-Arid Forest Resources, Texas A & I University, Campus Box 218, 78363, Kingsville, TX, USA

    R. M. East & P. Felker

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  1. R. M. East
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  2. P. Felker
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East, R.M., Felker, P. Forage production and quality of 4 perennial grasses grown under and outside canopies of matureProsopis glandulosa Torr. var.glandulosa (mesquite). Agroforest Syst 22, 91–110 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00705139

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