SEED YIELD AND MORPHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT OF RUSSIAN WILD RYEGRASS AS INFLUENCED BY GRAZING

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Abstract
Removal of aftermath forage of Russian wild ryegrass, Elymus junceus Fisch., by grazing increased seed yields by preventing the development of long mesocotyls which elevated the shoot apices to a height where they were subjected to frost damage. The sooner the grazing was started after the seed was harvested the higher the seed yield in the subsequent year. Grazing prevented the decline in seed yield which normally occurs in ungrazed plants with increasing age of stand. Aftermath removal had no apparent effect on the stage of development achieved by the shoot apices just prior to freeze-up.Observations showed that: (a) the protuberances on the apices start at the base and proceed by acropetal succession; (b) the transition from the vegetative to the reproductive phase of the apices takes place in the fall; and (c) a cold shock is not required to initiate the transition from the vegetative to the reproductive phase.