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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Logan, Utah » Poisonous Plant Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #327864
Title: Seeding medusahead-invaded rangeland following mechanical disturbance on the channeled scablands of eastern Washington

Author
item Stonecipher, Clinton - Clint
item Panter, Kip
item Jensen, Kevin
item Rigby, Craig
item VILLALBA, JUAN - Utah State University

Submitted to: Rangeland Ecology and Management
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/7/2016
Publication Date: 5/3/2017
Citation: Stonecipher, C.A., Panter, K.E., Jensen, K.B., Rigby, C.W., Villalba, J.J. 2017. Seeding medusahead-invaded rangeland following mechanical disturbance on the channeled scablands of eastern Washington. Rangeland Ecology and Management. 70:388-395.

Interpretive Summary: The presence of medusahead has altered the natural succession of vegetation on the Channeled Scablands of eastern Washington and increases livestock utilization, of a poisonous plant, lupine (Lupinus leucophyllus Douglas ex Lindl.). Utilizing mechanical disturbance to revegetate medusahead invaded rangelands will provide a low cost input method for producers. Vavilov II Siberian wheatgrass (Agropyron fragile [Roth] Candargy) and Immigrant forage kochia (Bassia prostrata [L.] A.J. Scott) established on four locations within the Channeled Scablands following mechanical disturbance with a disk. These plant species will provide an alternative forage to lupine for livestock and help reduce poisonings.

Technical Abstract: Vegetation on the Channeled Scablands of eastern Washington has been altered to a medusahead-lupine dominated landscape. Medusahead (Taeniatherum caput-medusae [L.] Nevski) is seldom utilized by livestock, decreases carrying capacity, and can lead to the consumption of poisonous plants. Velvet lupine (Lupinus leucophyllus Douglas ex Lindl.) grows on the medusahead-invaded rangeland of the Channeled Scablands and if consumed by pregnant cows can cause crooked calf syndrome. The objective of this study was to determine if mechanical tillage can be used to establish Vavilov II Siberian wheatgrass (Agropyron fragile [Roth] Candargy) and Immigrant forage kochia (Bassia prostrata [L.] A.J. Scott) to restore rangelands invaded by medusahead. Five plots were established at four locations across a 48 km transect on the Channeled Scablands. Plots were mechanically disturbed with a disk, seeded during 2010, and responses measured during 2012 and 2013. Vavilov II established at all locations and produced the most forage by the end of the study at the location farthest to the north at 836 ± 62 kg · ha-1. Immigrant forage kochia established at all locations and had the greatest forage production during the last harvest on the same plot at 286 ± 62 kg · ha-1. Vavilov II and Immigrant forage kochia established in the medusahead infested rangeland after mechanical disturbance and would provide an alternative forage source to lupine for grazing cattle, assist in mitigating medusahead infestations, and help reduce the incidence of crooked calf syndrome.