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Seed Production and Stand Regeneration of Bigflower Vetch, Vicia grandiflora var. kitaibeliana W. Koch, Grown with Cool‐Season Forage Grasses 1
Author(s) -
Templeton W. C.,
Taylor T. H.,
Wyles J. W.,
Woolfolk P. G.
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
agronomy journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.752
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1435-0645
pISSN - 0002-1962
DOI - 10.2134/agronj1976.00021962006800020015x
Subject(s) - agronomy , forage , biology , legume , vicia villosa , vicia sativa , grazing , pasture , productivity , sowing , cover crop , economics , macroeconomics
Research has shown that bigflower vetch, Vicia grandiflora var. kitaibeliana W. Koch, possesses a number of desirable characteristics as a forage plant. A deterrent to its use, however, is seed shattering, as the pods ripen. Also, no information concerning seed production potential of the species is available. Experiments were conducted, therefore, to gain information on seed production and the effect of spring cutting on seed yields and to explore the potential for regenerating stands from natural reseeding. Two essentially identical field experiments were conducted in which bigflower vetch‐grass mixtures were uncut or cut one to three times in spring prior to harvesting vetch seed. Residual productivity and botanical composition of the swards were determined in a single spring cutting the year after seed harvest. Early‐spring cutting of vetch‐grass mixtures markedly increased vetch seed production, with the most beneficial treatments resulting in clean‐seed yields of ca 600 kg/ha. The most intensive cutting treatments and cutting late in spring either almost or completely prevented seed production. A third experiment, under pasture conditions, involved bigflower vetch and several other legumes seeded into mixed grasses and managed to favor natural reseeding or to deter it, and three levels of N fertilizer. Sheep were used to graze the plots during a 5‐year period. Deferment of grazing in spring or early sumnmer to allow seed production and encourage natural reseeding of legumes increased the legume component of the pastures and sheep‐grazing days obtained from bigflower vetchgrass mixtures but not from other legume‐grass associations. Bigflower vetch‐grass, with the vetch allowed to reseed naturally, was as productive as grass receiving 112 kg N/ha/year. The data indicate that once an adequate reservior of bigflower vetch seed is in the soil, satisfactory stands can be regenerated for at least 2 years without intervening seed production.