Tallgrass prairie annual hay production and chemical composition (N, P, K, CA) data from a 23-year study conducted by H.J. Harper, Oklahoma State University, from 1929 through 1951 were correlated with corresponding monthly and seasonal temperature (mean, maximum and minimum, and absolute maximum and minimum), precipitation, wind, spring and fall growing season freeze dates, current and previous year's harvest dates, and previous year's yield. Multiple regression analyses were used to determine the weather variables and multiple regression equations which accounted for the greatest percentage of variation in annual hay production and nutrient concentrations. Equations with 4 independent weather variables for all months prior to the date of hay harvest produced high R2 values for production (82%), and N (80%), P (81%), K (81%) and CA (91%) concentrations. In general temperature values, especially in the fall of the previous year and January and mid-summer of the current year, accounted for more of the variation in all response variables than did any other kind of weather variable, such as precipitation, wind, or freeze date. Equations with 4 independent weather variables for those months prior to June produced only a moderate R2 value (48%) for production, but produced high R2 values for N (76%), P (74%), K (74%) and Ca (79%) concentrations. Relationships deserving additional research are suggested. This material was digitized as part of a cooperative project between the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. The Journal of Range Management archives are made available by the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact lbry-journals@email.arizona.edu for further information. Migrated from OJS platform August 2020
Scholarly peer-reviewed articles published by the Society for Range Management. Access articles on a rolling-window basis from vol. 1, 1948 up to 5 years from the current year. Formerly Journal of Range Management (JRM). More recent content is available by subscription from SRM.