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Productivity of Russian Wildrye and Crested Wheatgrass and Their Effect on Prairie Soils
Author
Smoliak, S.
Dormaar, J. F.
Publisher
Society for Range Management
Publication Year
1985-09-01
Body

Crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum (L.) Gaertn.) and Russian wildrye (Elymus junceus Fisch.) are used extensively as seeded pastures in the Prairie Provinces of Canada. Rangeland plowed in 1954 was planted to the 2 grasses in 1955. Herbage was harvested over a 25-year period, root weights were determined in 1977, and soil samples were obtained in 1965 and 1978 from the 2 seeded pastures and from adjacent native rangeland from each of 3 replicates. Forage production from the seeded pastures was greatest 4 years after seeding. Averaged over all years, crested wheatgrass yielded 113% more and Russian wildrye yielded 47% more forage than did native rangeland. Total root weight in the surface 15-cm layer of soil was greater on the native rangeland pasture than on the seeded pastures. Soils from native range pastures generally contained more organic carbon, less sodium, and had lower pH and sodium adsorption ratios than the soils from Russian wildrye pastures seeded 10 and 23 years before the soils were sampled. The organic C and pH's of the soils obtained from crested wheatgrass pastures decreased during the 23-year period while those of soils from the native range did not change. 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)
10.2307/3899708
Additional Information
Smoliak, S., & Dormaar, J. F. (1985). Productivity of Russian wildrye and crested wheatgrass and their effect on prairie soils. Journal of Range Management, 38(5), 403-405.
ISSN
0022-409X
OAI Identifier
oai:repository.arizona.edu:10150/645538
Journal Volume
38
Journal Number
5
Journal Pages
403-405
Collection
Rangeland Ecology & Management (REM)
Journal Name
Journal of Range Management
Keywords
Psathyrostachys juncea
grasslands
soil fertility
Agropyron cristatum
Alberta
crop yield
prairie soils
forage