Effect of Fertilization and Date of Planting on Establishment of Perennial Summer Grasses in South Central Oklahoma

Abstract

Establishment of perennial grasses on abandoned fields of the Southern Great Plains is one of the most difficult tasks, and yet probably the major need, of the agriculture of that area. The low seedling vigor of some of the adapted grasses, the high temperature, eroding wind, and erratic rainfall of the area, coupled with low soil fertility of the usual seeding sites make establishment very difficult and uncertain. The problem soils occupy areas that were cultivated one to three decades and then abandoned when soil erosion, depleted fertility, and economic conditions made further cropping unprofitable. The application of fertilizer as an aid to establishment of grass seedings has not received wide attention in this area. Investigations and demonstrations in the Southern Great Plains have shown that fertilizer additions to established stands of native grasses have usually given slight to nonsignificant increases in herbage production (Aldous, 1935; Frolik, 1941; Harper, 1957). Topdressings of phosphorous have usually been reported as increasing the phosphorous content of herbage but not the yield. Duncan and Ohlrogge (1958) showed that corn roots treated with a nitrogen-phosphorous fertilizer produced root proliferation and herbage yields that were not produced when only one fertilizer element was added. Walker, et al (1958), working in the Texas Panhandle, did not obtain a significant fertilizer response from band seeded native range grasses. This investigation was made to evaluate band applications of fertilizer on initial growth and establishment of certain grasses. Adapted species, once established, are not difficult to maintain if proper grazing management is followed.