Yield, Vigor, and Persistence of Sand Lovegrass (Eragrostis trichodes (Nutt.) Wood) Following Clipping Treatments

Individual sand lovegrass [Eragrostis trichodes (Nutt.) Wood.] plants on a choppy sands range site in Nebraska's Sandhills were clipped with 7 different harvest regimes for 3 years to determine critical defoliation times. After 3 years unclipped plants had the greatest survival rate and plants harvested only once a year on June 10 or July 10 survived better than those with other harvest regimes. Top and root yields, new tiller counts, and total non-structural carbohydrate (TNC) levels were all reduced severely with multiple harvests within one year. Sand lovegrass plants cannot tolerate close defoliation at anytime of the year although a single June defoliation appeared to be less detrimental than August defoliation. Sand lovegrass is difficult to manage when it makes up a small component of a pasture. Sand lovegrass will probably persist and yield best in a rotational grazing program where it is defoliated only once a year and some leaf area remains at the close of the grazing period. Plants are normally short lived so they should be managed to allow seed production periodically. A grazing management program necessary to maintain small amounts of sand lovegrass in a mixture may not be practical.This material was digitized as part of a cooperative project between the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries.The Journal of Range Management archives are made available by the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact lbry-journals@email.arizona.edu for further information.Migrated from OJS platform August 202