AC Saltlander

FOXTAIL BARLEY PROJECT

Results are in! See below...

Dr. Harold Steppuhn, Semiarid Prairie Agricultural Research Center, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Swift Current, SK along with theses organizations and names of partners:

• Alberta Beef Producers
• Ducks Unlimited
• Alberta Dryland Salinity Control Association
• Proven Seeds
• Wheatland Conservation Area
• Ag Service Board, County of Warner
• Saskatchewan Forage Seed Development Commission
• Chinook Applied Research Association
• Miller Seeds

In joint these organizations have contributed funding for this project: Developing biological strategies to control foxtail barley in saline hayfields. SPARC-Agric. & Agri-Food Canada will be doing the work. Summary: (written by Dr. Harold Steppuhn)

Agricultural producers across Canada consider foxtail barley (Hordeum jubatum) as a major weed detrimental to both field crop and livestock production. The plant invades disturbed pastures and cultivated land alike. It has proven very difficult to control, especially in hayfields containing saline soils. Foxtail barley, a perennial, typically produces copious quantities of wind-borne seed which penetrate, lodge, and infect the tender nose and mouth parts of cattle, sheep and horses. Infected livestock eat less and gain less weight.

The current chemical control includes heavy pre-emergence applications and yearly in-crop doses, which require conditions, which occur only briefly in the fall. AAFC scientists released ‘AC Saltlander’ green wheatgrass (Elymus hoffmannii). Plants of this palatable forage reproduce by seed and rhizome, and feature salinity tolerance equal to that of tall wheatgrass (Thinopyrom ponticum). Based on a non-replicated field trial in severely saline soils, green wheatgrass seems to be able to gradually suppress foxtail barley and other weeds as it established. This offers potential for a low-cost, biological remedy to control and perhaps eliminate this persistent weed in saline hayfields. Such control also reduces the availability of wind-borne seed by which this weed invades pastures, roadsides, freshly restored waterfowl nesting sites hayfields and directly-seeded grain fields, where its control is also difficult and costly.

Saltlander and other candidate forages will be grown in foxtail-barley infested sites and compare for their effectiveness in suppressing populations of the weed in saline hayfields. A minimum of two filed sites (one in Alberta and one in Saskatchewan) will be studied. Additional sites will depend on the total available funding in the project. Test blocks, established at each site, will be seeded to five or more candidate suppressor and salt-blend forages, and evaluated with respect to salinity. Plant emergence, population, relative growth, and seed production of foxtail barley with and without suppressor forage, measured during three growing seasons, will provide the data to evaluate each of the weed control strategies.

Information specific to foxtail-barley and selected candidate suppressor forages will also be obtained from salinity tolerance tests and related greenhouse investigations in Canada’s Salinity Tolerance Testing Lab (wintertime, at Swift Current). Effective control strategies for foxtail barley will be devised based on the project’s findings.

Results are in!
> CLICK TO VIEW A PDF OF THE FOXTAIL BARLEY RESULTS

AC SALTLANDER, GREEN WHEATGRASS INFORMATION:

AC SALTLANDER demonstrates exceptional salinity tolerance, better than intermediate, matches’ tall wheatgrass and exceeds Newhy RS Wheatgrass. Its extensive root system allows it to be useful in dewatering saline seep discharge areas.

AC SALTLANDER is the only Canadian cultivar of green wheatgrass and was mass selected in Canada for overall salinity tolerance, winter hardiness, and desirable plant form.

AC SALTLANDER is a long lived perennial grass that is adapted to semiarid rangeland.

AC SALTLANDER likes to receive 13" of precipitation annually. It has similar drought tolerance as intermediate wheatgrass.

AC SALTLANDER has increased grazing tolerance and persistency on range sites and in pasture.

If properly managed it produces comparable quality yield of forage as brome and orchard grass in non-saline conditions.

AC SALTLANDER is palatable; it has a low growth point which allows for flexible grazing and hay management.

AC SALTLANDER resists moderate grazing pressure after establishment and recovers rapidly after grazing of defoliation.

AC SALTLANDER produces aggressively spreading rhizomes which allow the stand to fill it self in. Under favorable conditions AC SALTLANDER can displace foxtail barley from the field.

AC SALTLANDER is a cool season grass; its leaves remain greener and more succulent during the late summer, unlike other wheat grasses.

Excellent stands have been obtained on dry land range sites when seed is planted late enough in the fall to ensure it does not germinate until the spring. (Especially in saline sites). But spring seeding allows for more opportunity to eliminate competing weeks and is the recommended method.

Recommended seeding rates are 5-10 lbs per acre

Seedlings are vigorous and establish themselves rapidly under relatively harsh conditions.

It is important to prepare a firm seed bed. Seeds must be planted deep enough to ensure adequate moisture, but never planted deeper than 3/4". Seedling at excessive depths will almost always result in partial to complete stand failure.

Minimal fertilizer should be applied during early seedling development. From 40 to 60 lbs. per acre of available nitrogen is recommended on mature plantings during the fall when tillers are developing or in the early spring.

AC SALTLANDER is thought to be a natural hybrid between one or more blue bunch wheat grasses and quack grass.

AC SALTLANDER is morphologically distinct, but, its seed is similar in appearance to the quack grass parent.