Location: Livestock, Forage and Pasture Management Research Unit
2024 Annual Report
Objectives
Objective 1: Develop novel genotypes for forage and turf with improved responses to climate and management. Sub-Objective 1.A. Improving the seed characteristics of native bluegrasses (Poa) with interspecific hybrids; Sub-Objective 1B. Developing mutants of native lovegrasses (Eragrostis) with improved biomass production; Sub-Objective 1.C. Develop and evaluate sideoats grama (Bouteloua curtipendula) as a substitute for Old World bluestems in the Southern Great Plains. Objective 2: Improve efficiencies in forage and crop production at the soil-plant interface. Sub-Objective 2.A. Evaluate intensive crop rotations applied to winter wheat; improving productivity, water, and nitrogen use efficiencies; Sub-Objective 2.B. Test methods of N application for managing switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) as a cellulosic feedstock; Sub-Objective 2.C. Identify soil amendments that improve the resiliency of cropping systems; Sub-Objective 2.D. Testing forage guar (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba) as a hay crop for the more arid regions of the SGP; Sub-Objective 2.E. Understand how the biomass of novel grasses and legumes functions in the rumen environment. Objective 3: Enhance ecological function of crop-pasture rotations to increase resilience of production systems. Sub-Objective 3.A. Defining the function of hay, pasture, and crop agroecosystems with a comprehensive multi-scale observatory; Sub-Objective 3.B. Develop technologies to indirectly measure intake of metabolizable energy in grazing beef cattle; Sub-Objective 3C. Measure gas fluxes of calves from high and low methane emitting cows to understand if energy metabolism by calves is predictive of their offspring. Objective 4: Enhance function of rangeland and prairie ecosystems for more resilient productivity. Sub-Objective 4.A. Improving the utilization of little bluestem by cattle with mowing instead of prescribed burns; Sub-Objective 4B. Understand how compound agroecosystems comprised of different pasture types respond to grazing and management.
Approach
Production by Southern Great Plains (SGP) agroecosystems is impacted by limited supplies of water, soil fertility, variable climates, and environmental degradation that threatens the economic viability and sustainability of agriculture. This project will develop management practices and identify crop and forage genotypes that are resilient under climate variability, increase forage production and improve resource use-efficiency. Increased production from native prairie, tame pastures, and croplands will be achieved through use of practices that enhance ecological condition of grazing lands and minimize on-farm and downstream environmental damage. Decision-support tools will assist producers in using management practices that optimize efficiencies under variable climatic conditions. Improved efficiencies will reduce costs of production and contribute to sustainability of forage-based livestock production. Enhancing the on-farm capacity for forage production is important. Forage can substitute for feed resources lost to competing enterprises like feedlots and bioenergy. Applying improved management practices to forage-based livestock production can enhance ecological function of prairies and pastureland, increase resilience of production systems, improve food security, add value to farming and ranching operations, and mitigate greenhouse gasses. The end-result is improved efficiencies of beef production with lower inputs of grain and fossil fuels, lower use of capital by exploiting on-farm products, and improved competitiveness and profitability for producers. To accomplish this goal, understanding interactions at the soil-plant-animal-atmosphere interface of agroecosystems is required to match inputs to desired outputs of commodities and ecological benefits. The project includes a diverse set of activities across a range of subjects, from the genome of individual plants to pasture-scale responses of agroecosystems and regional-scale modelling.
Progress Report
The milestones of the Objectives and Sub-objectives of the Current Research project 3070-21510-001-000D for FY 24 were substantially met. In Sub-objective 1A, a team of ARS researchers at Woodward and El Reno, Oklahoma, grew plants of first generation crosses of Texas bluegrass that were transferred to field nurseries and allowed to intermate by open pollination. A collection of second-generation seed from this intermating was obtained to produce interspecific hybrids that combined Texas bluegrass, & other native bluegrasses to improve the seed characteristics of native bluegrasses.
A team of ARS researchers at El Reno and Woodward, Oklahoma, developed mutants of native lovegrasses with improved biomass production in Sub-objective 1B, they collected & grew foundation germplasm of lines of plains lovegrass to be used to produce mutants for transfer to field nurseries and selections for more productive & adapted plains lovegrass.
In Sub-objective 1C, ARS researchers at Woodward and El Reno, Oklahoma, selected plants of sideoats grama that were grown in isolation blocks and recombined into other isolation blocks to develop new hybrids for evaluation as potential substitutes for Old World bluestems in the Southern Great Plains. Samples were collected to define the forage quality & vigor of progeny from the selections.
Under Sub-objective 2A, ARS researchers at El Reno, Oklahoma, in collaboration with scientists at Kansas State University, Manhattan; Oklahoma State University, Stillwater; and Texas Agri-Life, Overton, added data to long-term databases that define how nitrogen sources, land management, and crop rotations may influence nitrogen and water use efficiencies, soil condition, and the productivity of wheat-based and other crop rotations. A scientific paper reported research on the performance of two novel legumes (tepary bean and moth bean) as green manures in supporting winter wheat. A second paper reported on results of crop models in simulating water stress in sorghum-sudangrass grown for hay as affected by different nitrogen sources and tillage systems.
In Sub-objective 2B, ARS researchers at Woodward, Oklahoma, completed start of treatment applications to a series of blocks of switchgrass that were started in different years, collected soil samples, fertilized plots per outlined schedule, and sampled plots of switchgrass. Earlier treatments applied to other plots were continued and data collection was continued to develop management guidelines for fertilizing switchgrass managed as a feedstock.
Under Sub-objective 2C, ARS researchers at El Reno, Oklahoma, in collaboration with scientists at Universidade Estadual de Mato Grosso do Sul in Brazil have undertaken an international study to define the capacity of bacterial amendments & organomineral (combinations of organic and inorganic) fertilizers to support production and resiliency of different rotations of grain & forage crops common in Oklahoma and Brazil. The applied crop rotations at each location and the different fertilizer treatments to be applied were developed.
Under Sub-objective 2D, ARS researchers at El Reno and Woodward, Oklahoma, with collaborators at Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, initiated a study to define the capacity of guar to serve as an annual forage legume in the dry environments found in western Oklahoma. Potential cultivars and accessions were identified, seed increases were undertaken, and study sites were located at the El Reno and Woodward locations. Seed increases included a set of new accessions from Texas, and three Indian-origin cultivars obtained from collections of the USDA-Germplasm Resources Information Network.
Under Sub-objective 2E, ARS researchers at El Reno and Woodward, Oklahoma, collected forage samples from a suite of less-common grasses and legumes being studied in a comlementary research project for analysis in Daisy incubators. This work will characterize the digestion kinetics of less common forages and help define their function and use in ruminant digestion. An initial trial that compared the digestion kinetics of three annual legumes to alfalfa was completed. A scientific paper from ancillary research reported on the production and basic forage quality of the novel legumes tepary bean and moth bean grown in different agronomic settings.
ARS researchers at El Reno, Oklahoma, in Sub-objective 3A, in collaboration with university collaborators, continued data collection & analysis to quantify fluxes in water, carbon and energy dynamics in different agroecosystems that produce grain, forage, and grazed pastures as part of comprehensive multi-scale observatories. A journal paper that tested modelling of biomass production and use of water by wheat and alfalfa pastures with remotely sensed data was published.
In Sub-objective 3B, ARS researchers at Woodward, Oklahoma, conducted field research to define heat production of cattle by measuring fluxes of carbon dioxide, methane and oxygen in the breath of cattle to back calculate estimates of intake of metabolizable energy.
In Sub-objective 3C, ARS researchers at Woodward, Oklahoma, conducted field research to evaluate gas fluxes in respiration and estimated heat production by calves produced by cows that were identified as emitting either high or low amounts of methane to understand if energy metabolism by calves is predictive of their mothers.
ARS researchers at Woodward, Oklahoma, under Sub-objective 4A, identified pastures to include in a study, and sampled plant communities to describe their composition, as a start to determining if the palatability of little bluestem is improved with mowing and how mowing affects the use of little bluestem.
Under Sub-objective 4B, ARS researchers at El Reno, Oklahoma, in collaboration with university researchers, continued to add data to existing databases of water, carbon and energy fluxes of ecosystems, animal performance, and pasture responses comprised of paddocks of southern tallgrass prairie & tame perennial grasses. Journal papers on the effects of weather on vegetation dynamics and Eddy fluxes in tallgrass prairie, and modelling of the biomass production and transpiration of water by native prairie with remotely sensed data were published.
Accomplishments
1. Factors associated with Oklahoma phlox in the Gypsum Hills of northwestern Oklahoma. Very little is known about factors such as fire, soil type, and topography on the distribution of Oklahoma phlox in the Gypsum Hills of northwestern Oklahoma. This rare species is found in scattered populations across the region and in the Flint Hills of Kansas, but with an increase in the size and frequency of wildfires within the region, it is important to quantify the effects of fire and other factors on the distribution of populations to inform conservation efforts. The populations were surveyed in the late eighties, again in the early 2000’s, and with an increase in large fires in the region in recent decades ARS researchers is Woodward, Oklahoma, returned to the survey area to map populations a third time. Using burn boundaries and other geographic layers in a geographic information system the researchers determined that the phlox was less likely to occur in areas with extreme burn histories (i.e., areas either with no record of burning or areas burned more than 3 times within the last 38 years). Areas burned 1 or 2 times in the past 38 years favored phlox populations. The researchers also identified soil types, slope classes, slope aspects, and topographic positions that favored phlox populations.
Review Publications
Wagle, P., Northup, B.K., Moffet, C., Gunter, S.A. 2024. Impact of variable weather on vegetation phenology and Eddy fluxes in tallgrass prairie. Rangeland Ecology and Management. 94:215-225. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rama.2024.03.011.
Sarkar, R., Northup, B.K. 2023. Simulating water stresses in sorghum-sudangrass production with different nitrogen sources and tillage systems. Journal of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition. 23:5759-5780. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42729-023-01438-6.
Celis, J., Xiao, X., Wagle, P., Basara, J., McCarthy, H., Souza, L. 2023. A comparison of moderate and high spatial resolution satellite data for modeling gross primary production and transpiration of native prairie, alfalfa, and winter wheat. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. 344. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2023.109797.
Cornell, C.R., Zhang, Y., Ning, D., Xiao, N., Wagle, P., Xiao, X., Zhou, J. 2023. Land use conversion increases the network complexity and stability of soil microbial communities in a temperate grassland. Journal of the International Society for Microbial Ecology. 17(12):2210-2220. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41396-023-01521-x.
Singh, H., Northup, B.K., Gowda, P., Baath, G.S., Prasad, V.P. 2023. Moth bean and tepary bean as green nitrogen sources in intensive winter wheat cropping systems. Journal of Agriculture and Food Research. 15. Article 100938. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jafr.2023.100938.
Nelson, A.M., Maskey, M.L., Northup, B.K., Moriasi, D.N. 2024. Calibrating Agro-Hydrological Model under Grazing Activities: Challenges and Implications. Journal of Hydrology. https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology11040042.
Bapat, A.R., Moran Lauter, A., Hufford, M.B., Boerman, N.A., Scott, M.P. 2023. The Ga1 locus of the genus Zea is associated with novel genome structures derived from multiple, independent nonhomologous recombination events. G3, Genes/Genomes/Genetics. Article jkad196. https://doi.org/10.1093/g3journal/jkad196.
Baath, G.S., Sarkar, S., Sapkota, B., Flynn, K.C., Northup, B.K., Gowda, P.H. 2023. Forage yield and nutritive value of summer legumes as affected by row spacing and harvest timing. Farming System. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.farsys.2023.100069.