SOME FACTORS AFFECTING GERMINATION, EMERGENCE, AND EARLY GROWTH OF THREE RANGE GRASSES

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Abstract
Factors affecting germination, emergence, and early growth of Festuca scabrella, Danthonia parryi, and Bromus pumpellianus were studied in the germinator or greenhouse. Germination of D. parryi was not affected differentially at temperatures ranging from 55°F. to 85°F. F. scabrella germinated best at 65°F. and B. pumpellianus at 75° to 85°F. Percentage germination of F. scabrella was inhibited by a wet-cold treatment and by a solution prepared from partially decomposed litter. Shallow seeding was found to offer the best opportunity for seedling establishment. Fewest seedlings survived where competition was greatest, i.e. when seeds were broadcast on the surface of a rapidly-growing, established sod. This treatment produced the least vigorous seedlings as measured by tiller or rhizome numbers, dry matter yields, and root and leaf lengths.In a depth-of-litter study involving F. scabrella, as the depth of litter increased, the percentage emergence of seedlings decreased. Seedlings continued to emerge for an 85-day period from all except shallow [Formula: see text] litter depths of seeding.Six square-foot sods obtained in mid-June, 1958, from Festuca prairie in excellent condition were dissected in the laboratory. Numbers and locations of seedlings were recorded and showed that the same trends existed on the prairie as were detected in the greenhouse experiments. The cumulative results of the studies suggested that seed and seedling mortality in the grasses studied was of considerable magnitude.