Burning and Grazing to Promote Persistence of Warm-Season Grasses Sown into a Cool-Season Pasture

Abstract

We combined burning and rotational grazing in an effort to promote persistence of recently established native grasses. The experiment took place on a farm in south-central Wisconsin on a cool-season grass pasture that was drill seeded with native warm-season grasses: big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), Indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans), and switchgrass (Panicum virgatum). We used a split-plot experimental design to assess native grass persistence under varying disturbance treatments (burned, burned-grazed, and grazed). We used a paired t-test to determine if the difference between 2006 and 2007 native grass density was significantly different from zero. Native grass tiller density increased under the burned (202%) and grazed (186%) treatments, but not the burned-grazed (29%) treatment. However, the actual native grass tiller numbers in 2007 were much higher in the burned-only than the grazed-only treatment (80 ± 10 tillers/m 2 and 2 ± 1 tillers/m 2 , respectively). We found no loss to native grass tiller density when rotational grazing was applied to plots in the first year after two years of grazing exclusion with burning. In addition, we found that native grass cover was greatest in the burned treatment but not significantly different in the burned-grazed and grazed treatments. Our results suggest that the combined use of burning and grazing as a management tool for native grass persistence in pastures may be possible with deferred grazing during the establishment phase, but alternative timing, intensity, and types of grazing animals should be tested.

Multivariate Analysis of Rangeland Vegetation and Soil Organic Carbon Describes Degradation, Informs Restoration and Conservation

“…Patch burn-grazing (heterogeneity-based management), in which grazing activity is concentrated within spatially-discrete burned patches, is an effective combination of disturbances with other difficult-to-control invasive plants [61], and with time, might contribute to restoration pathways R.2 and R.3. However, directly restoring highly-degraded grassland to prairie (R.3) within a narrow time frame likely depends upon herbicide treatment [62] and/or reseeding native plants and then managing with fire and grazing [63].…”

Top‐down control of rare species abundances by native ungulates in a grassland restoration

“…Thus far, restoration ecologists have stressed the importance of fire much more than native ungulate grazing. However, understanding the role of grazers is becoming necessary as bison ( Bos bison L.) or elk ( Cervus elaphus L.) are reintroduced (Knapp et al ; Martin & Wilsey ; Jackson et al ; Kohl et al ), and cattle are used to facilitate establishment of native grasses and forbs in restorations (Bouressa et al ; Allred et al 2011 a ). Although very intense grazing can be detrimental to species diversity, moderate grazing (either in frequency or intensity) could have positive effects on species diversity when the grazing mammals feed on dominant grasses and sedges, especially when grazing is patchy (Allred et al 2011 b ).…”

Tebuthiuron Use in Restoring Degraded Tallgrass Prairies and Warm-season Grass Pastures

“…Forb response likely depended on the types of forbs present and the level of competition with other species. The effect of tebuthiuron on total yield also varied among trials, and the magnitudes of the responses may have been influenced by differences in burn regimes (Bahm et al, 2011;Bouressa et al, 2010;Masters et al, 1992). A variable impact on total yield also occurred with atrazine (Gillen et al, 1987;Waller and Schmidt, 1983) and seemed to be dependent on the abundance of warm-season grasses (Dill et al, 1986) and on whether the herbicide application was combined with other management activities (Gillen et al, 1987).…”