Herbage Production and Grazing Capacity on Annual-Plant Range Pastures Fertilized with Sulfur

Abstract

Widespread tests over a period of years have shown a deficiency of sulfur in several soils derived from a variety of parent materials at many locations in California (Conrad, 1950). On foothill range with sulfur-deficient soil, fertilization offers a positive means of improving the natural annual-plant cover (Bentley, 1946; Bentley and Green, 1954). It is a low-cost treatment that, in plot tests, has given economical returns (Green and Bentley, 1954). To determine how improvements in the vegetation from sulfur fertilization are reflected in range livestock production, a grazing test was started at the San Joaquin Experimental Range in 1949. A major objective was to learn how sulfur fertilization fits into year around management of foothill ranges. The experiment was conducted cooperatively by the California Forest and Range Experiment Station, U. S. Forest Service, and the Department of Animal Husbandry, University of California. This article presents the herbage production, range stocking, and herbage utilization results obtained during the first 7 years