Rangeland Ecology & Management

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Renovation of Seeded Warm-season Pastures with Atrazine
Author
Dill, T. O.
Waller, S. S.
Vogel, K. P.
Gates, R. N.
Stroup, W. W.
Publisher
Society for Range Management
Publication Year
1986-01-01
Body

Numerous warm-season pastures have been established in the last 30 years in the central Great Plains. Some of these pastures are old enough to verify that they can be abused by overgrazing as easily as native tallgrass prairies. Overgrazed warm-season pastures are invaded and dominated by cool-season grasses such as smooth brome (Bromus inermis Leyss.) and Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.), which diminishes the pasture productivity during the hot summer months. Since established warm-season grasses have greater tolerance to the herbicide atrazine than cool-season grasses, the effectiveness of atrazine applications in renovating invaded warm-season pastures was evaluated. A single, early spring application of atrazine (3.3 kg/ha) killed or sufficiently suppressed the cool-season grasses so that surviving warm-season remnants were able to effectively re-establish the warm-season pasture in a single growing season without any loss in total pasture forage production. Lower rates of atrazine were not as effective, particularly if smooth brome was the primary cool-season grass. The single atrazine application cost was approximately 25% of the seed cost associated with more conventional renovation. Pastures should not be grazed the treatment year but can be hayed at the end of the growing season. The success of the practice is dependent on the presence of warm-season grass remnants. Spraying test strips in small fenced areas would be advisable before treating entire pastures. 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

Language
en
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Journal Issue/Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
10.2307/3899691
Additional Information
Dill, T. O., Waller, S. S., Vogel, K. P., Gates, R. N., & Stroup, W. W. (1986). Renovation of seeded warm-season pastures with atrazine. Journal of Range Management, 39(1), 72-75.
IISN
0022-409X
OAI Identifier
oai:repository.arizona.edu:10150/645544
Journal Volume
39
Journal Number
1
Journal Pages
72-75
Journal Name
Journal of Range Management
Keywords
artificial regeneration
Bromus inermis
atrazine
seed dispersal
Poa pratensis
weed control
pastures
Nebraska
Poaceae
overgrazing
prairies
range management
plant competition