The Effect of Clipping and Weed Competition upon the Spread of Pasture Grass Seedlings

Abstract

INTRODUCTION The drought of the last seven years with its disastrous dust storms has damaged vast areas of the native prairie as well as much cultivated land. Deficient rainfall has caused crop failures over large areas, leaving the fields without a protective covering. Due to these conditions, wind erosion started the dry, loose soil to drifting. Large amounts of the soil settled on the grassland and destroyed much of the native plant cover (10). Where the native vegetation was weakened or destroyed, the soil was invaded by such weedy annuals as lamb's quarter (Chenopodium sp.), Russian thistle (Salsola pestifer), pig weed (Amaranthus sp.), and sunflower (Helianthus annuus). The severe competition of these ruderals further weakened the native vegetation to the point where, in many cases, it was completely destroyed. These conditions have brought about an increased activity in the field of range research. Until recently there has been relatively little research work done on the revegetation of cultivated land. The greater part of the experimental work, prior to the drought, was carried out with the intention of using domestic forage plants to revegetate the depleted ranges (8). The present needs in range research are more experimental data on native forage plants and the methods of handling them on the revegetation areas. It is more practical to obtain this information on small experimental plots than on large revegetation areas where improper methods might prove too *ostly. To provide a part of this needed information, an experiment was set up at Hays, Kansas, in the spring of 1939 to determine the effect of clipping and weed competition on the spread of pasture grass seedlings. RELATED STUDIES Most of the experimental work relative to clipping has been done on the effect of clipping and fertilizing upon the yield and composition of the forage. Leukel, Camp, and Coleman (3) and Robinson, Pierre, and Ackerman (5) worked on the effect of clipping and nitrate fertilizing on the growth, behavior and composition of pasture grasses. Richardson, Trumble, and Shapter in Australia (4) studied the influence of the growth stage and the frequency of cutting on the yield and composition of Phalaris tuberosa. They found that frequent cutting reduced the yield of the tops and the extent of the root system. Two or three cuttings a year, however, had a tendency to increase the yield. Nearly all the work on revegetation, until very recently, has been done in the west and southwest with the use of imported and cultivated species (8).