Herbicide protection seed coating technology for improving restoration success in the Great Basin sagebrush plant communities

Authors: Boyd, Chad; BAUGHMAN, OWEN - The Nature Conservancy; DUQQUETTE, CAMERON - The Nature Conservancy; ESHLEMAN, MAGGIE - The Nature Conservancy; RIOS, ROXANNE - Former ARS Employee; KILDISHEVA, OLGA - The Nature Conservancy; OWENS, MICHAELA - The Nature Conservancy; RIGINOS, CORINNA - The Nature Conservancy; SHROEDER, CORINNE - The Nature Conservancy

Submitted to: Restoration Ecology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/19/2025
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: We explored the use of carbon-based seed coatings as a mechanism for binding herbicide in the vicinity of planted seeds of desired species, potentially allowing for simultaneous seeding and pre-emergent herbicide application. Our research indicates carbon-based seed coatings can protect seeds of desired perennial species from herbicide effects but the efficacy of protection depends seeding technique. Carbon coating of seeds has the potential to dramatically streamline the logistics of restoring IAG impacted sagebrush rangeland by allowing for simultaneous herbicide application and seeding of desired perennial species.

Technical Abstract: The integrity of the western US Sagebrush Biome is under generational-level threat from invasive annual grasses (IAG). These species displace native perennial vegetation, degrade wildlife habitat, and are associated with a dramatically increased presence of wildfire on western rangelands. Combating the IAG threat involves not only removing annual grasses but replacing them with desired perennial species. Restoring perennial vegetation has proven difficult on arid rangelands impacted by IAGs but pre-emergent herbicides can be used as a tool to create temporal windows of reduced IAG competition to increase perennial seeding success. However, these same herbicides also curtail establishment of perennial bunchgrasses, necessitating a delay in seeding until herbicide toxicity wanes. This delay means that multiple restoration entries are required, which is financially and logistically problematic given the large spatial scales at play. Coating desired perennial seeds with activated carbon has the potential to diminish the effects of pre-emergent herbicides, allowing for simultaneous herbicide application and seeding of desired perennials but the efficacy of this approach is still being evaluated. In this issue we present a series of papers outlining results from our efforts to develop an effective herbicide protection seed coating. These papers report herbicide protection seed coating efficacy and outline the effects of coating rate and seeding method on seedling emergence and survival to the adult demographic stage. We conclude that our results suggest carbon seed coatings have the potential to be an effective tool for restoration of annual grass-impacted sagebrush rangelands but that additional trials at larger scales are needed to evaluate efficacy under a broad range of environmental conditions.