Using native warm-season grasses is critical in helping organic livestock farmers extend the grazing season, but establishment of these grasses such as switchgrass, eastern gamagrass, big bluestem and little bluestem remains a challenge.
With a new $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture researchers are studying the best practices for organic establishment of these grasses for farmers who want to incorporate them into their forage systems.
Their project, “Developing a Toolbox for Organic Native Warm-Season Grass Establishment: Planting Windows, Legume Interseeding and Prescribed Burning,” received a grant from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative Program. The research team will study forage yield and nutritive value, weed suppression, water and nutrient use, soil health, and economic performance of the grasses over four years.
The research builds on the team’s ongoing project supported by the same funding program, plus input from some stakeholders. There will be two coordinated field trials: one at the UT East Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center and the other at USDA-ARS Dale Bumpers Small Farms Research Center in Booneville, Arkansas.
Source : tennessee.edu