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Blue grama, grown in situ on the upper 12 cm of a claypan soil in the greenhouse, had greater growth when minor elements were added with N, P, and K. N fertilized plants produced significantly less forage than NPK-fertilized ones but slightly more than unfertilized pIants. Renovation of claypan areas to increase water infiltration may need to be accompanied by fertilization with minor elements, particulnrly on old landscapes where soil weathering has been intense. Some claypan areas support depauperate blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis) plants even though the known grazing history has been light or dormant-season use. Forage production on these sites during seasons with above average precipitation does not increase as much as on sites where blue grama plants are more vigorous. Mechanical treatments, such as ripping or contour furrowing, increase the amount of soil water for plant growth. Yet, low soil fertility of claypans may mask the effect of added soil water following mechanical treatment. Th; effect of soil fertility on blue grama growth was investigated in the greenhouse where a water deficit would not limit growth. Methods The upper 12 cm of a claypan soil with blue grama plants intact was extracted from a claypan range site in October, 1979. Soil and plants were placed in 13-cm plastic pots. The semidormant plants were grown in the greenhouse for about 2 months to acclimate the plants. Six replications of 4 treatments were prepared. Pots were weighed and plant crown areas measured so each potted plant in a replication was similar to the other 3. The treatments were: no fertilizer, N, NPK, and NPK with minor elements (ME). Hoagland’s formulation for nutrient solutions was used. Equal amounts of N or P and K were added to each treatment that received these elements but actual amounts applied were not recorded for this qualitative study. The minor elements added were B, Mn, Cl, Zn, S, and Cu. Distilled water was used in all nutrient solutions and to furnish water as needed to pots with vigorous plant that used more water than was supplied in the nutrient solutions. The pots wereplaced in plastic dishes so that leachate solutions could be returned to the soil surface. Thus, difference in response to a treatment could not be attributed to leaching of the soil. Flower stalk heights were measured and the stalks cut off at the soil level, dried at 70° C, and weighed. Maximum leaf heights were measured and half the estimated total top growth was clipped, dried at 7fPC, and weighed. After the initial clipping, clippings were made when regrowth slowed. After the fifth clipping, soils in the pots were air dried, weighed, crushed, and screened (<2 mm) to Authors are professor of plant science (soils), South Dakota State Univ., BOX 2207A. Brookings 57007; and associate professor and research asststant of animal science, South Dakota State University Agricultural Research and ExtensionCenter. Rapid City 57701. This report is S. Dakota Agr. Exp. Sta. Journal No. 1752. Manuscript received March 30, 198 I. remove pebbles and plant remains. Pebbles were washed, dried, and weighed to adjust the soil weights to a stone-free basis. Methods used for soil analyses have been described (White et al. 1981). Orthogonal comparisons in the analysis of variance were tested by the error mean square except for flower stalk measurements. Because the error variance of the flower stalks from the unfertilized treatment likely is not the same as in the other treatments, the error sum of squares was partitioned (Steele and Torrie 1960) for the orthogonal comparisons. Results and Disksion Attributes of fertilized plants were significantly larger than those of the unfertilized plants in all 5 harvests (Table I). Leaf weights increased progressively from treatments with N, to NPK, and to NPK -IME. The plants receiving ME had a more vigorous appearance in the greenhouse although flower stalk production tended to be greater with NPK lacking ME. Table 1. Means of 4 growth measurements of blue gnnu for 5 consecutive harvests of pots treated with different nutrient solutions. Nutrient added NPK Statistical significance1 Harvests None N NPK ME I 2 3 Number of seed stalks 0.2 9.2 7.8 5.5 0.0 6.7 9.2 8.8 0.0 16.5 49.0 26.7 0.5 9.0 35.5 40.2 0.0 8.2 19.3 4.2 Seed stalk weight (pm) 0.0 1.2 1.5 0.7 0.0 0.4 1.0 0.6 0.0 0.8 3.3 1.5 0.0 0.4 3.4 3.0 0.0 0.3 0.8 0.1 Maximum leaf height (cm) 40 50 52 27 4 45 :: 28 39 46 41 18 28 41 39 23 33 35 32 Leaf weight (pm) 1.2 2.6 3.8 4.5 .8 1.9 2.6 3.9 1.1 1.8 3.5 5.5 .4 1.2 3.3 .4 .s 1.9 l *

Blue Grama [Bouteloua gracilis] Response to Fertilization of a Claypan Soil in the Greenhouse