Objective:

To evaluate the performance of cool and warm season forage grasses.

Summary:

 Five cool season and five warm season forage grasses were planted in May 2019 to evaluate their performance (yield and quality) and suitability for production in northwest Montana. Seeding rates used in this study followed the industry recommendation. Other management information is provided in Table 1.

All nine grasses established relatively well, except for Timothy.  Based on this first year of study, the biggest hurdle for Timothy is plant establishment compared with the other species studied.

Irrigation was applied on six separate occasions between July 29 and August 30, for a total of 3.5”.  Weed pressure within plots was low, and hand-weeding was performed throughout the growing season.

Among the cool season grasses, the Barricade mix (Alaska brome, smooth brome, meadow brome, Rush intermediate wheatgrass, and tall fescue) yielded the highest (numerically). However, it did not differ statistically with orchard grass and Oahe intermediate wheatgrass.  Among the warm season grasses, Corvallis teff was numerically the highest yielder but was not statistically different than Moxie teff or Piper sudangrass.  Forage quality data are not yet available for this report.

Table 1. Management information

Seeding date: 5/29/2019 Field Location: R8
Julian date: 149 Harvest Date: Various
Seeding rate: Various Soil type: Fine sandy loam
Previous crop: Barley Tillage: Conventional
Herbicide: None Soil residual nutrient  
    (NO3-1, P, K lb/A): 22-15-99 (spring, 2019)
Insecticide: None Nutrient fertilizer applied  
Fungicide: None (N, P2O5, K20 lb/A): 100-20-60
 

Table 2. Yield performance of forage species.

Species

  Type   1st  Cut  
  2nd Cut   
   Total 
---------------ton/A--------------
Corvallis teff warm season 1.4 2.2 3.6 a
Moxie teff warm season 1.2 2.1 3.3 ab
Piper sudangrass warm season 2.7 - 2.7 ab 
Barricade dryland mix cool season 0.7 1.2 1.9 b
HLR orchard grass cool season 0.7 1.1 1.8 b
Oahe intermediate wheat grass  cool season 1.2 0.4 1.6 b
Tifleaf pearl millet warm season 1.6 - 1.6 bc
Luna pubescent wheat grass cool season 0.7 0.4 1.1 cd
Crabgrass warm season 1 - 1.0 d
Timothy cool season 0.2 0.1 0.3 d

*Total yields with the same letter are not significantly different at alpha=0.05

Yields calculated on a dry matter basis