TY - JOUR T1 - Soil water conditions and yield of tall fescue, switchgrass, and Caucasian bluestem in the Appalachian Northeast JF - Journal of Soil and Water Conservation SP - 184 LP - 186 VL - 41 IS - 3 AU - W. L. Stout AU - G. A. Jung AU - J. A. Shaffer AU - R. Estepp Y1 - 1986/05/01 UR - http://www.jswconline.org/content/41/3/184.abstract N2 - 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. ER -