ABSTRACT:
Soil conditions on beef cattle pastures in the Appalachian Northeast limit the amount of precipitation that is stored and used for forage production. To determine the effect of soil water availability on the yield of cooland warm-season forage grasses, four subplots each of tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.), switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.), and Caucasian bluestem [Bothriochloa caucasica (Trin.) C.E. Hubb] were established on each of two soil types (Edom silt loam—Typic Hapludalf, fine, illitic, mesic—and Weikert channery silt loam—Lithic Dystrochrept, loamy-skeletal, mixed, mesic). Water storage capacity of the Edom profile was 16.6 cm; that of the Weikert profile was 6.25 cm. Soil water, mid-day plant water potential, and canopy temperature data were taken at two-week intervals starting at the initiation of growth in the spring and ending as each species was harvested. Productivity of switchgrass and tall fescue was significantly higher on the Edom soil than on the Weikert soil. Switchgrass produced the most dry matter and used water more efficiently than the other species. Both the cool-and warm-season grasses growing on the Weikert soil experienced moisture stress at mid-day during July. Grasses growing on the Edom soil did not. Moreover, moisture stress generally was greater for the cool-season grasses than for the warm-season grasses.
Footnotes
W. L. Stout is a soil scientist, G. A. Jung is a research agronomist, and J. A. Shaffer is a support soil scientist, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802. R. Estepp is an area soil scientist, Soil Conservation Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Moorefield, West Virginia. This paper is contribution No. 8411 of the U.S. Regional Pasture Research Laboratory, University Park, Pennsylvania. Mention of a trademark, vendor, or proprietary product does not constitute endorsement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture or approval to the exclusion of other products that also may be suitable.
- Copyright 1986 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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