The sagebrush steppe is undergoing rapid ecological change and the loss of sagebrush rangelands contributes to more than 350 species of animals and plants being listed as species of conservation concern, as well as, a decrease in recreational activities, reduced forage production, degraded water resources and an increase in fire frequency. In the sagebrush steppe, success rates for seeding are notoriously low. Seedlings are exposed to numerous stresses of which can have compounding effects on their survivability. To reduce the associated stresses with seedling development we use seed enhancement technologies. Seed enhancement technologies allow for the physical manipulation and application of materials to the seed that can influence germination, emergence, and/or early seedling growth. Timing emergence and germination of seedlings can reduce some of the environmental stresses during early development. Seed coating and enhancement strategies with sagebrush present a difficulty amongst themselves due to the small size of sagebrush seeds. We proposed the idea of agglomerating sagebrush seeds to provide a means that enhancements can be applied. In turn we created a method that improves delivery and flow through standard seeding equipment. We will present on our findings for agglomerating sagebrush seed and controlling germination timing using plant regulatory growth hormones. The potential outcomes of these strategies can have significant impact on future seeding attempts by increasing overall success rates, which in turn can reduce overall costs.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.