Effects of initial plant spacing and applied nutrients on stand development and productivity of Texas bluegrass in the Louisiana coastal plain

Abstract

The native rhizomatous cool‐season perennial grass, Texas bluegrass (Poa arachnifera Torn), has recently been recognized again as a plant with considerable potential for range and pasture plantings. Throughout the first half of this century, sporadic efforts at evaluation and commercial use of Texas bluegrass were thwarted primarily by slow stand establishment and difficulties with seed processing. Subsequent advances in seed harvesting, processing, and planting equipment and selection of superior plant genotypes could reduce effects of these limitations. In much of the southern mid‐ and tall‐grass prairie regions and lower southeastern states where Texas bluegrass appears to have potential, there is no currently available sustainable cool‐season forage grass. Effects of initial plant spacing and lime, phosphorus (P), and nitrogen (N) application were evaluated in a field and a green house experiment on acid infertile Louisiana Coastal Plain soils. Stands from transplanting on 10‐ and 30‐cm spacings were comparable by the third growing season as the sparsely planted stand spread aggressively. The only consistent response to soil amendment was enhanced forage production from N fertilization in the spring. A plant photoperiodic response appears to limit potential to respond to N in autumn and winter. Forage production of dense stands and responses to spring application of N indicate that Texas bluegrass has considerable potential as a productive, sustainable cool‐season forage grass for at least some soils on the southeastern Coastal Plain as well as that recently reported for the southern mid‐ and tall‐grass prairie regions.