Performance of American Native Grass Cultivars in the Canadian Prairie Provinces

Abstract

The cultivation of native grass cultivars developed for Montana and North Dakota has been proposed in the prairie region of western Canada. Cultivars of 6 warm-season and 4 cool-season grass species that had been selected for North Dakota or Montana were evaluated at a range of sites in western Canada for stand establishment, persistence, aboveground biomass, seed yield, and competitive ability. Warm-season grass cultivars were not adapted to sites above 51 °N latitude. At locations below this latitude, cool-season grasses produced more biomass than warm-season grasses. The occurrence of these warm-season grasses in native rangeland of this region is frequent but often restricted by landscape position or soil texture. Thus, they will likely have a minor role in revegetation seedings. Mammoth wildrye exhibited the highest biomass production on the highest productivity sites. All native cool-season grass cultivars evaluated were adapted to the prairie region of western Canada.