No-Till Drill Planting of Texas bluegrass

Abstract

Combining the use of a flail-vac harvester, a hammer mill, and the Woodward WW2000 cleaner, Texas bluegrass (Poa arachnifera Torr. [Poaceae]) seeds were successfully harvested, cleaned, and planted with a no-till drill at Woodward, Oklahoma. Texas bluegrass is one of only a few native, cool-season perennial grasses that withstand the region’s heat, droughts, and grazing. It produces nutritious and palatable forage during the late fall, winter, and early spring when most warm-season rangeland forages are low in nutrients and least preferred by livestock. The use of Texas bluegrass has been severely limited because the extremely cottony seed head makes it difficult to harvest and clean the seeds so they will flow through a drill. Seeds were no-till drilled into clear ground or into herbicide-killed wheat stubble and Texas blue-grass stands were established on 22 March 2007 and 15 September 2008 when soil moisture was available on the drilling date and for 6 to 8 wk after planting. The cleaning and planting method presented here could enable more widespread use of Texas bluegrass for pasture establishment, inclusion in native mixed seedlots for rangeland restoration, or inclusion in warm-season native pastures lacking a cool-season component.