Planting prostrate kochia in 'greenstrips' may be a viable option to decrease cheatgrass dominance.

Over the last century and a half, the salt desert shrub ecosystem of the Great Basin has changed to include many new invasive annual weeds. Cheatgrass is the most prevalent. This introduced annual weed brings a faster re-occurring fire-cycle to the landscape. On average, it is estimated that cheatgrass ecosystems in the western United States burn every seven years. Records indicate that native vegetation evolved under less frequent fire events. Consequently, vegetation compo

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Standard commercial soil tests typically quantify nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, pH, and salinity. These factors alone are not sufficient to predict the long-term effects of management on soil health. The goal of this study was to assess the effectiveness and use of simple physical, biological, and chemical soil health indicator tests that can be completed on-site. Analyses were conducted on soil samples collected from three experimental peach orchards located on the Utah State Horticultural Research Farm in Kaysville, Utah. All simple tests were correlated to comparable lab analyses using Pearson’s correlation. The highest positive correlations were found between Solvita® respiration, and microbial biomass (R = 0.88), followed by our modified slake test and microbial biomass (R = 0.83). Both Berlese funnel and pit count methods of estimating soil macro-organism diversity were fairly predictive of soil health. Overall, simple commercially available chemical tests were weak indicators of soil nutrient concentrations compared to laboratory tests. Modified slake tests, Solvita® respiration and soil organism biodiversity counts may be efficient and cost-effective tools for monitoring soil health on-site.

Core Ideas• Interseeding forage kochia into established CRP acreage can increase the potential for fall and winter grazing by livestock.• The addition of forage kochia improved the nutritive content of the stockpiled forage in terms of both protein and energy.• Interseeding forage kochia into established wheatgrass with the intention of fall and winter grazing was an attractive economic alternative to returning expired CRP acres to crop production. AbstractHighly erodible farm acres coming out of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) contracts could remain in perennial species and be used for fall and winter grazing if wheatgrass monocultures could be renovated by interseeding nutritious forage species. This onfarm study evaluated the success of interseeding forage kochia into established wheatgrass stands and measured the effect on forage mass, forage nutritive value, grazing value, and economic return. Tillage treatments of one or two passes with a chisel plow were used to thin existing grass stands, and 'Immigrant' forage kochia was broadcast seeded (winter 2007) over the tilled area. Establishment, forage mass, and nutritive value were determined for four consecutive years (2010-2013) during the fall grazing season. Forage kochia became successfully established, with nearly double (179% greater) (P < 0.05) the plant frequency for the two-pass chisel plow treatment than for the one-pass treatment. The two-pass treatment forage mass of 2991 lb/acre was 161% greater than the one-pass treatment and 303% greater (P < 0.05) than control and resulted in stocking rates of 1.6, 0.9, and 0.5 animal unit month (AUM)/acre, respectively. Interseeding forage kochia improved (P < 0.05) the nutritive value of the stockpiled forage, with crude protein concentrations of 8.8, 7.8, and 4.5% for the two-pass, one-pass, and control treatments, respectively. Based on estimated grazing value, the two-pass treatment had the highest yearly net return of $46.98/ acre, compared with $24.82 for the one-pass treatment and $18.80 for the control. This research documented that interseeding forage kochia into established CRP acreage can increase the potential for fall and winter grazing by livestock.