Grass Seed Production as Influenced by Cultivation, Gapping, and Postharvest Residue Management

Canode, C. L.

Grass Seed Production as Influenced by Cultivation, Gapping, and Postharvest Residue Management

1972

Canode, C. L.

A study was conducted to determine the influence of cultivation, gapping of the initial stand, and in situ burning of the postharvest residue on the seed yields of ‘Pennlate’ orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.) and ‘Newport’ Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.). The two grasses were grown in separate but adjacent blocks. The experimental design for each species was a split-plot with cultivation treatments as the main plots. One cultivation with a rotary hoe (minimum cultivation) in April of each year was the best method under conditions of these experiments. Additional cultivation with sweep-shovels (conventional cultivation) reduced the seed yields of Kentucky bluegrass and did not influence the seed yields of orchardgrass. Kentucky bluegrass seed yields were reduced more by conventional cultivation in April than by similar cultivation in September. Conventional cultivation leaving a 30-cm row width reduced seed yields more than leaving a 46-cm row width. Capping of the rows in the seedling year reduced the seed yields of both orchardgrass and Kentucky bluegrass in the first crop but had little effect on subsequent crops. Mechanical removal of postharvest residue was as effective as burning in orchardgrass seed production. Burning compared with mechanical removal of the postharvest residue produced lower seed yields of Kentucky bluegrass in the second and third crops, but higher yields in the fourth and fifth crops.

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