ARS | Publication request: THE EFFECT OF SEEDING AND SEEDBED PREPARATION METHODS ON ESTABLISHMENT OF FORAGE KOCHIA (KOCHIA PROSTRATA [L.] SHAD.)

Submitted to: Society for Range Management Meeting Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: October 1, 2003
Publication Date: January 24, 2004
Citation: Schauer, C.S., Davies, K.W., Bates, J.D., Svejcar, A.J., Bohnert, D. 2004. The effect of seeding and seedbed preparation methods on establishment of forage kochia (kochia prostrata [l.] shad.) [abstract]. Society for Range Management. Paper No. 319.

Technical Abstract: Forage kochia (Kochia prostrata [L.] Shad.) Can provide a nutritional, dormant season grazing plant for wildlife and livestock use in the northern Great Basin. Our objective was to determine whether forage kochia could be interseeded into a 40 year old crested wheatgrass [Agropyron desertorum (Fisch.) Schult] stand. Three seeding methods (unseeded and seed broadcast or seed drilled at 1.7 kg/ha) and six seedbed preparation methods (none, light and heavy disking, brush-beating, scalping, or herbicide application [glyphosate sprayed at 0.95 kg a.i. per ha]) were applied in a 3 x 6 factorial strip plot design to 6 x 6 m plots in 2001 and 2002. Plots were planted on April 2 in 2001 and 2002. Drilled treatments increased forage kochia establishment compared to broadcast treatments (P<0.001) in both years. In year 1, scalping increased (P<0.001) forage kochia establishment comparted to other seedbed preparation methods. In year 2, heavy disking increased establishment (P<0.02) of forage kochia compared to all seedbed preparation methods except scalping (P=0.30). However, in all treatments establishment was poor, with the greatest establishment of 0.50 forage kochia seedlings / linear m observed in the drilled treatment of year 1. In order for livestock producers to accept and utilize forage kochia as a complimentary forage, an effective means of establishing forage kochia into existing crested wheatgrass pastures requires further testing.