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Graminae
Synonyms
Andropogon ischaemum (L.).
Common names
Plains blue-stem, King Ranch blue-stem, Turkistan blue-stem,
yellow blue-stem (United States).
Description
It is a warm-season perennial bunch grass, sometimes forming
a sod. It grows to 0.3-0.5 m with creeping root-stock, erect culms, simple
or sparingly branched above, glabrous or pubescent at nodes. Leaves glaucous,
hairy at base. Three to ten digitate spikes, linear, 4-6 cm long, greyish.
Distribution
Afghanistan, India, Iraq, Pakistan, USSR, Turkey, south-western
United States (Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas).
Rainfall requirements
It is adapted to 375-1 000 mm rainfall.
Drought tolerance
It is drought resistant.
Soil requirements
'Plains Blue-stem' is adapted to a wide range of soils from
well- drained good sandy soils to loam and clay loam soils, but not to
deep sands. It has some tolerance to soils which produce iron chlorosis.
It prefers limestone soils.
Ability to spread naturally
It volunteers readily from seed.
Land preparation for establishment
A good, clean, firm seed-bed is needed.
Sowing methods
The fluffy seed is mixed with fertilizer and sown through a
drill or fertilizer spreader using a coarsely ground fertilizer.
Sowing depth and cover
Sow on surface and roll or cover lightly.
Sowing time and rate
Sow in the early summer at 11-17 kg/ha.
Number of seeds per kg.
3.1 million.
Seed treatment before
planting
The seed requires hammer-milling before planting.
Seedling vigour
Excellent.
Vigour of growth and growth
rhythm
It has a growth similar to Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon)
in Oklahoma. It can be grazed throughout the winter there. It grows well
in late summer and autumn in the United States, flowering from June to
October.
Dry-matter and green-matter
yields
The average annual yield of green matter on a black day soil
in Maharashtra State, India, with light irrigation during the hot months
December to May was 8 724 kg/ha from three cuts each for three years and
four cuts one year (Whyte, 1964). In Oklahoma, United States, yields of
dry matter per hectare were 3 288 kg with no nitrogen fertilizer, 6 545
kg with 110 kg N/ha, and 10 039 kg with 220 kg N/ha (Dalrymple, 1978).
In a seven-year study at the Noble Foundation, Oklahoma, it outyielded
Bermuda grass cv. Midland by 23 percent. In Gujarat, India, it yielded
15 680 kg/ ha green matter better than C. ciliaris, Dichanthium annulatum,
Eragrostis superba, Panicum antidotale and P. repens.
Suitability for hay and
silage
It has made good hay in the United Republic of Tanzania and
in the drier zones of Hawaii.
Toxicity
No toxicity has been reported with this grass.
Cultivars
a blend of morphologically similar selections of the same
pasture species. The selections come from Afghanistan, India, Iraq, Pakistan,
the USSR and Turkey.
has been used for several decades in the United States.
It is a high-quality grass that can produce greater yields than native
grass, but less than 'Plains' and 'Caucasian' blue-stems. It can be used
well as a range grass but as there are more productive grasses, very little
'King Ranch Blue-stem' is planted today. It can form a sod almost as dense
as Bermuda grass and can be used for erosion control.
more cold resistant than other strains.
Main attributes
Its winter hardiness and palatability.
Palatability
'Plains Blue-stem' is quite palatable and leafy, but is extremely
prostrate in Kenya.
Chemical analysis and
digestibility
Advanced plains blue-stem with stemmy growth gave an average
digestibility of 48.6 percent. The crude protein content averaged 4.7 percent
during the winter of 1978 with a phosphorus content of 0.08 percent (Dalrymple,
1978).
Natural habitat
Dry stony places, borders of fields and slopes.
Tolerance to flooding
It has no tolerance to flooding.
Fertilizer requirements
In the United States a planting mixture of NPK (1620-0, 18-
46-0 or 10-20-40) is used. It responds well to fertilizer, but gives good
quality forage at low fertility rates. A yield of 30 kg of dry gross can
be expected for every kilogram of nitrogen.
Genetics and reproduction
2n=40, 50, 60. It is a pseudogamous apomict.
Animal production
Newly purchased 159 kg steers gained 0.45 kg per day grazing
'Plains Blue-stem' during late summer and autumn in Oklahoma. Weaner calves
gained 0.66 kg per day for the first 35 days and 0.24 kg/day for the last
34 days for an overall daily gain of 0.45 kg per head per day for 69 days
(Dalrymple, 1978).
Further reading
Dalrymple, 1978; Harlan et al., 1961.
Dormancy
There is some post-harvest dormancy.
Value for erosion control
Valuable for reseeding eroded soils in the central and southern
Great Plains of the United States. It was found to be one of the most effective
soil stabilizers to maintain the bunds in the ravine lands of Gujarat,
India, with an elaborate root system and excellent ground cover (Srinivasan,
Bonde & Tejwani, 1962).
Tolerance to salinity
'King Ranch Blue-stem' has some salt tolerance.
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