Agronomy and Horticulture Department

 

Date of this Version

11-30-2021

Citation

Guretzky, J.A.; Redfearn, D.D. Seeding Rate Effects on Forage Mass and Vegetation Dynamics of Cool-Season Grass Sod Interseeded with Sorghum-Sudangrass. Agronomy 2021, 11, 2449. https://doi.org/ 10.3390/agronomy11122449

Comments

© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license

Abstract

Interseeding annual warm-season grasses into perennial cool-season grasses has the potential to increase summer forage mass and nutritive value. Knowledge of how seeding rate affects annual warm-season grass establishment, forage mass, and vegetation dynamics remains limited. From 2016–2017, we conducted a field experiment evaluating the effects of seeding rates on sorghum-sudangrass (Sorghum bicolor x S. bicolor var. sudanense) density and forage mass and on the frequency of occurrence of plant species in cool-season grass sod in Lincoln, NE. The experiment had a completely randomized design consisting of six replicates of four seeding rates [0, 14, 28, and 35 kg pure live seed (PLS) ha-1] in sod mowed at a 2.5-cm height and one unseeded, non-mowed control treatment. Sorghum-sudangrass establishment increased with seeding rate from an average of 20 to 45 plants m-2 as the seeding rate increased from 14 to 35 kg PLS ha-1. Forage mass depended on a seeding rate x harvest interaction, showing positive linear and cubic responses to seeding rate in consecutive harvests at 45 and 90 d after interseeding. To increase forage mass in perennial cool-season grass sod, producers should interseed sorghum-sudangrass with at least 28 kg PLS ha-1. One-time seedings into cool-season, perennial grass sod have no residual effects on subsequent forage mass and vegetation dynamics.

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