Influence of harvest date on seed yield and quality in forage kochia

Dale R Zobell,Cody F Creech,Blair L Waldron,Corey V Ramsom,Joseph Earl Creech

doi:10.15302/j-fase-2017196

Abstract

Influence of harvest date on seed yield and quality in forage kochia

Highlights

Western rangelands in the USA have increasingly become degraded due mainly to climate fluctuations, wildfires, overgrazing and the invasion of non-native annual plant species
This research compared the affect accession and harvest date had on germination, 100-seed weight, and total and viable seed yield of forage kochia
Harvesting forage kochia during the early maturing phase resulted in poor yield and viability due to the high number of immature and undeveloped seeds

Summary

Introduction

Western rangelands in the USA have increasingly become degraded due mainly to climate fluctuations, wildfires, overgrazing and the invasion of non-native annual plant species. The success or failure of subsequent restoration and revegetation efforts of forbs and shrubs on these rangelands depends partially on acquiring sufficient quantities of quality seed[1]. Virescens, a green plant type, and subsp. Forage kochia is reported to have high salt and drought tolerance[4,6,7], and has been shown to have potential to rehabilitate disturbed rangeland areas where frequent wildfires occur and invasive annuals, such as Halogeton glomeratus, displace native perennials[8,9,10,11]. Forage kochia was first introduced into the USA in the early 1960s and subsp. Immigrant, was subsequently released in 1984 after evaluations identified it as a palatable forage that had exceptional ability to establish, persist and reduce soil erosion on disturbed rangelands in the Intermountain

Methods

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion