Seedling Performance Associated with Live or Herbicide Treated Tall Fescue

Tall fescue is an important forage grass which can host systemic fungal endophytes. The association of host grass and endophyte is known to influence herbivore behavior and host plant competition for resources. Establishing legumes into existing tall fescue sods is a desirable means to acquire nitro...

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Main Authors: Jonathan J. Halvorson, David P. Belesky, Harry W. Godwin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2015-01-01
Series:International Journal of Agronomy
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/841213
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author Jonathan J. Halvorson
David P. Belesky
Harry W. Godwin
author_facet Jonathan J. Halvorson
David P. Belesky
Harry W. Godwin
author_sort Jonathan J. Halvorson
collection DOAJ
description Tall fescue is an important forage grass which can host systemic fungal endophytes. The association of host grass and endophyte is known to influence herbivore behavior and host plant competition for resources. Establishing legumes into existing tall fescue sods is a desirable means to acquire nitrogen and enhance the nutritive value of forage for livestock production. Competition from existing tall fescue typically must be controlled to ensure interseeding success. We used a soil-on-agar method to determine if soil from intact, living (L), or an herbicide killed (K) tall fescue sward influenced germination and seedling growth of three cultivars of tall fescue (E+, MaxQ, and E−) or legumes (alfalfa, red clover, and white clover). After 30 days, seedlings were larger and present in greater numbers when grown in L soil rather than K soil. Root growth of legumes (especially white clover) and tall fescue (especially MaxQ) were not as vigorous in K soil as L soil. While shoot biomass was similar for all cultivars of tall fescue in L soil, MaxQ produced less herbage when grown in K soil. Our data suggest establishing legumes or fescue cultivars may not be improved by first killing the existing fescue sod and seedling performance can exhibit significant interseasonal variation, related only to soil conditions.
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spelling doaj-art-56dfda99101441f29796f0e90680aa7f2025-08-20T03:33:35ZengWileyInternational Journal of Agronomy1687-81591687-81672015-01-01201510.1155/2015/841213841213Seedling Performance Associated with Live or Herbicide Treated Tall FescueJonathan J. Halvorson0David P. Belesky1Harry W. Godwin2USDA-ARS Northern Great Plains Research Lab, Mandan, ND 58554, USADivision of Plant & Soil Sciences, West Virginia University, P.O. Box 6108, Morgantown, WV 26506, USAUSDA-ARS, Beaver, WV 25813-9423, USATall fescue is an important forage grass which can host systemic fungal endophytes. The association of host grass and endophyte is known to influence herbivore behavior and host plant competition for resources. Establishing legumes into existing tall fescue sods is a desirable means to acquire nitrogen and enhance the nutritive value of forage for livestock production. Competition from existing tall fescue typically must be controlled to ensure interseeding success. We used a soil-on-agar method to determine if soil from intact, living (L), or an herbicide killed (K) tall fescue sward influenced germination and seedling growth of three cultivars of tall fescue (E+, MaxQ, and E−) or legumes (alfalfa, red clover, and white clover). After 30 days, seedlings were larger and present in greater numbers when grown in L soil rather than K soil. Root growth of legumes (especially white clover) and tall fescue (especially MaxQ) were not as vigorous in K soil as L soil. While shoot biomass was similar for all cultivars of tall fescue in L soil, MaxQ produced less herbage when grown in K soil. Our data suggest establishing legumes or fescue cultivars may not be improved by first killing the existing fescue sod and seedling performance can exhibit significant interseasonal variation, related only to soil conditions.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/841213
spellingShingle Jonathan J. Halvorson
David P. Belesky
Harry W. Godwin
Seedling Performance Associated with Live or Herbicide Treated Tall Fescue
International Journal of Agronomy
title Seedling Performance Associated with Live or Herbicide Treated Tall Fescue
title_full Seedling Performance Associated with Live or Herbicide Treated Tall Fescue
title_fullStr Seedling Performance Associated with Live or Herbicide Treated Tall Fescue
title_full_unstemmed Seedling Performance Associated with Live or Herbicide Treated Tall Fescue
title_short Seedling Performance Associated with Live or Herbicide Treated Tall Fescue
title_sort seedling performance associated with live or herbicide treated tall fescue
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/841213
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AT davidpbelesky seedlingperformanceassociatedwithliveorherbicidetreatedtallfescue
AT harrywgodwin seedlingperformanceassociatedwithliveorherbicidetreatedtallfescue