**2006 Annual Report for National Program 215**

**Rangeland, Pasture, and Forage Systems**

**Importance of Pasture, Forage, Turf and Range Lands**

Our Nation\'s grass and shrub lands including range, pastures, and hay
and turf lands provide forages, open spaces and ecological services that
contribute significantly to our agricultural, environmental, economic,
and social well-being. Rangeland, pasture, and forages together comprise
about 55% of the total land surface of the United States, about a
billion acres. The Nation's 30 million acres of turf lands are found
around homes, schools, municipal and commercial buildings, in our parks,
greenbelts and recreational areas, and along our roadsides, airports and
right-of-ways. These lands contribute an estimated \$40 billion a year
to the economy.

Range, pasture and forage lands are the primary forage base for our
livestock grazing industry in the U.S. and are utilized by more than 60
million cattle and millions of sheep and goats. Forage-livestock systems
are the foundation of an industry that generates more than \$70 billion
in farm sales annually. The estimated value of hay production alone is
\$11 billion, the third most valuable crop to U.S. agriculture, behind
only corn and soybeans. Nearly 70% of dietary protein and 40% of dietary
calories for the U.S. population are of animal origin, and forage
resources are crucial for sustained production of our animal-based
products.

The functions of these lands are of increasing importance as watersheds
and as habitat for a set of biologically diverse plants and animals.
Maintaining adequate supplies of clean water for urban areas, irrigated
agriculture, and environmental needs is a critical function of
rangeland, pasture, and forage-producing ecosystems. Rangelands and
pastures also provide forage and habitat for numerous wildlife species,
including 20 million deer, 500,000 pronghorn antelope, 400,000 elk, and
55,000 feral horses and burros. Associated with these functions is an
array of additional demands placed on these natural resources, including
camping, hiking, fishing, hunting, and other recreational activities.

**Purpose of the annul report**

Meeting the multitudes of demands on the pasture, forage, turf and range
lands requires that producers and land managers have access to
management practices that are effective, economically viable, socially
acceptable and environmentally friendly. While substantial progress has
been made in applying scientific principles to the management of these
lands, there are still many gaps in understanding the interrelationships
between basic ecological processes and alternative management practices.

The overall goal of this national program is to provide the knowledge
and technologies needed to close these gaps and improve the use and
conservation of the natural resource values on these lands. This annual
report describes the progress being made in addressing problems outlined
in national program 215's action plan that can be found at
<http://www.ars.usda.gov/research/programs/programs.htm?np_code=205&docid=14664>.
This report is organized around the same format of components and
problem areas used in the action plan.

**Component I**. Rangeland Management Systems to Increase Economic
Viability and Enhance the Environment

**Problem Area A**: Need for economically viable and environmentally
sustainable

rangeland management practices, germplasm, technologies and strategies
to conserve rangeland ecosystems.

[Drought Risk Management]{.underline}**.** Drought is common in the
northern Great Plains and is an important risk for livestock producers
and rangeland managers. Traditionally, following a spring drought,
mangers delay making decisions such as reducing livestock numbers in the
hope that summer rains will compensate for production lost in the
spring. ARS scientists at Miles City, Montana found that summer rains
can increase forage productions but these increases were seldom large
enough to compensate for the 50% reductions causes by spring droughts.
For example, the probability of getting 6 inches of rainfall in July and
August which would have a significant impact on forage production is
less than 1%. This information can aid livestock producers and land
managers in making timely and realistic risk-management decisions on
when livestock numbers should be reduced because of drought.

[Impact of grazing on carbon storage along an environmental
gradient]{.underline}. There are many gaps in our knowledge of how
alternative managing practices such as grazing impact on carbon
sequestration on the nation's vast rangeland areas. ARS researchers
collaborating with Texas A&M scientists collected plant, root and soil
carbon samples from Colorado to eastern Kansas along an environmental
gradient that included short-, mid- and tall- grass site that had
long-term histories of being grazed or not grazed. They found that
grazed shortgrass ecosystems stored more carbon than non-grazed, but for
wetter mid- and tall-grass ecosystems, the opposite was true with the
non-grazed storing more carbon. The higher carbon storage in the grazed
shortgrass sites was thought to be due to shifts in plant composition.
On grazed sites there was a shift from cool-season to warm-season
grasses and this appears to favor greater carbon storage. This
information will aid policy makers and land managers seeking to increase
carbon storage on rangelands to mitigate carbon dioxide levels in the
atmosphere.

[Reducing costs in monitoring rangelands]{.underline}. Low-cost
rangeland monitoring strategies using remote sensing in the past has
been limited by insufficient resolution needed to track changes in soils
and vegetation. ARS scientists at Las Cruces have evaluated using a
combination of sensors to provide adequate resolution. Five-centimeter
resolution aerial photographs from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV)
provided measurements of gap and patch sizes as will as percent bare
soil and vegetation ground cover over much of a 150,000 acre
experimental range site. Simultaneously, data were collected at
one-meter resolution to assess patterns of ecological states while 15-30
meter resolution data were used to delineate larger uniform landscape
units. Using this combination of images taken at different resolutions
provides lower-cost and timely information needed to help managers
identify rangeland areas at risk of degradation and degraded areas with
good potential for restoration.

[Impact of flood irrigation on forage production and water
temperature]{.underline}. In the Northwest, many streams are considered
too warm to meet water temperature standards and water diversion for
flood irrigation has generated controversy because of concerns about
increasing water temperatures even more. ARS scientists at Burns,
Oregon, studied the impact of flood irrigation of meadows on
temperatures of headwater streams. Flood irrigation of meadows is
essential to producing sufficient forages for grazing and haying needed
to support the local livestock industry. The scientists found that flood
irrigation in the early summer helped buffer water temperatures in a
positive way. This information will help managers integrate land uses in
a way that meets multiple objectives with the least potential for
conflict.

**Problem Area B**: Need for improved livestock production systems for
rangelands that provide and use forages in ways that are economically
viable and environmentally sustainable.

[Controlling Broom snakeweed to protect rangeland ecosystems and animal
performance]{.underline}. Broom snakeweed is a native invasive plant
that cokes out more desirable vegetation, degrades wildlife habitat, and
may cause abortions in cows, sheep and goats. Scientists at Logan, Utah
studied how grazing affected the invasion of snakeweed in sagebrush
plant communities. Many years of spring grazing resulted in dense
Wyoming big sagebrush stands with sandberg bluegrass understory and some
snakeweed. Fall grazing every other year maintained the plant community
in a healthy mix of perennial bunchgrass and intermittent big sagebrush
that crowded out snakeweed over the four years of the study. Fire on the
spring-grazing site knocked out the sagebrush allowing snakeweed to
dominate the site. However, fire did not impact significantly on the
fall grazing site. This information provides ranchers and public land
managers with grazing management tools to improve rangeland health while
reducing livestock abortions caused by toxic weeds.

[Maintaining cattle condition reduces losses from pine needle
consumption]{.underline}. Consumption of ponderosa pine needles by
pregnant cows causes premature births and calf death losses across the
western U.S.   ARS researchers at Logan, Utah have determined that body
condition and nutrient status of cattle affects pine needle
consumption.  They found that thin cattle eat more pine needles than
cows in high body condition. Furthermore, low protein diets can reduce
the amount of pine needles eaten by cattle in poor body condition,
whereas such diets have had no effect on needle consumption by fat
cattle. Number range CHAPTER

[More effective animal tracking systems for managing livestock-ecosystem
interactions]{.underline}. Tracking wildlife and livestock movements and
habitat use patterns accurately and affordably is essential to effective
ecosystem management. ARS scientists at Boise, Idaho have published
manufacturing details of the *Clark ATS,* a GPS-telemetry animal
tracking system that solves many of the problems associated with GPS
technology in the past. Previous systems were very expensive, had
relatively small data storage capacity, and were often difficult to use
in the field. The ARS scientists have transferred the new technology to
the Idaho Department of Fish & Game, USDA/APHIS/WS, USFS, and USDI/FWS
and are working collaboratively to use the data being collected to
evaluate habitat use and activity patterns of livestock and wildlife in
response to prescribed fire treatments and programs to reintroduce
predators.

**Problem Area C**: There is a need for improved rangeland restoration,
rehabilitation and mitigation practices, germplasm, tools and strategies
to restore rangeland health in a manner that is economically feasible
and environmentally acceptable:

[Improving revegetation success on degraded rangelands]{.underline}.
Wildfires, droughts, and other causes of degradation strip the land of
vegetation essential for protecting watersheds, providing wildlife
habitat, feeding livestock and enhancing recreational activities.
Following degradation, managers need affordable seeds of native
vegetation that has a high probability of successful establishment and
will conserve biodiversity. ARS scientists at Logan, Utah have released
a new variety of slender wheatgrass, an important species for
restoration, called FirstStrike. In field trials in Idaho, Utah and
Wyoming, FirstStrike performed equal to or superior to other commercial
varieties in seedling establishment, number of seedlings per unit area,
initial stand and persistence, and dry matter yield. FirstStrike has
been adapted by 42 Department of Defense facilities encompassing 1.3
million acres of land regularly reseeded following training exercises.

[Stopping cheatgrass invasion of rangelands]{.underline}: One of the
most damaging invasive weeds is cheatgrass which has spread across
millions of acres of western rangelands. In just one year, in Nevada,
over \$80 million dollars was spent fighting wildfires and restoring
critical areas. Looses due to degraded soil and water resources, burned
forages unavailable to wildlife and livestock and reduced ecological
health were even more damaging. It has long been thought that cheatgrass
was only self-pollinating and this would limit a population's ability to
adapt to changing conditions such as changes in management practices.
ARS scientists at Reno, Nevada applied molecular genetics techniques to
characterize cheatgrass populations and for the first time documented
that cheatgrass does out-cross to some extent. This cross-pollination
between plants results in increased genetic diversity that allows
cheatgrass to adapt to new environments more quickly. This discovery may
complicate future attempts at controlling cheatgrass but the
out-crossing between plants may also open up new lines of controls based
on genomic manipulation. This information will help scientists and land
managers face the challenges of controlling cheatgrass more effectively
by targeting limited funds to the most promising avenues of control.

[Selecting the right seeds for rangeland restoration]{.underline}. ARS
scientists at Logan, Utah found that Indian ricegrass populations often
exhibit two or three different seed genetic variants (morphs) found in
separate plants. These morphs frequently give individual plants in the
population very different levels of seed dormancy and thereby increase
the population's genetic diversity in terms of environmental adaptation.
Indian ricegrass morphs occurring at the same rangeland site suggests
that the genetic variants originated in different geographical locations
and then migrated independently to the common rangeland site where they
are now found. This information suggests that introducing a genetically
diverse mix of Indian ricegrass seeds would be genetically and
ecologically appropriate action for rangeland restoration managers.

**Component II**. Pasture Management Systems to Improve Economic
Viability and Enhance the Environment

**Problem Area D**: Need for appropriate plant materials to improve the
economic viability and environmental sustainability of pasture and
livestock grazing systems.

[Extending the grazing season with the release of new Italian ryegrass,
Floregon]{.underline}. Extending the length of the grazing season
significantly increases the profitability of the livestock industry
because it reduces the need to feed hay and other harvested forages. A
key factor in determining the length of the grazing season is when the
forage plants shift from vegetative growth to seed production when both
the quality and quantity of forages drops. ARS scientists at Corvallis,
Oregon working with the University of Florida have released a new
cultivar of Italian ryegrass called Floregon, an important winter
pasture grass in the Southeast. Floregon has improved resistance to
crown rust, seed yields in Oregon similar to or higher than other
cultivars, and as good as forage yield and quality. However, when grown
in the Southeast, 20% of the plants do not flower and continue to grow
vegetatively and extend the grazing season. So the new cultivar meets
the needs of the seed industry in Oregon with good seed production and
the needs of Southeastern livestock producers who want a longer grazing
season. To meet anticipated demand, an estimated 2 million pounds of
seed will be available for market at the end of the 2007 growing season.

[Developing a new seed production methods for bioenergy and forage
crops]{.underline}. Eastern gamagrass is a highly productive and
digestive native grass with great potential in livestock and bioenergy
production. However, seed availability could limit a rapid expansion in
taking advantage of this grass' potential. ARS scientists at Woodward,
Oklahoma applied high-throughput molecular genetics techniques to speed
the selection of seed production traits. They found a mutant form of
gamagrass that produces entirely female flowers as contrasted to the
predominately male type found in the wild. By identifying the mutant
form is caused by recessive genes and being able to identify which
plants to cross, it will be possible to develop gamagrass varieties that
will greatly increase seed production and provide another option for
improving livestock and bioenergy production.

[Developing new grass varieties by applying molecular genetics to
improve forage digestibility]{.underline}. Lignin and ferulic acid are
both thought to be important components of the cell wall that limit the
utilization of plants by ruminant livestock. ARS scientists at Madison,
Wisconsin found that both lignin and ferulic cross-linking act
independently to limit cell-wall digestion in three important species of
forage grasses (smooth bromegrass, orchardgrass and reed canarygrass).
This information is now being used to identify the specific genes
controlling lignin and ferulic acid so they can be manipulated to create
new forage varieties that will improve the efficiency of livestock
production.

**Problem Area E**: Need for Profitable and Environmentally Sustainable
Pasture-Livestock Systems for the Mid-South

[Reducing input costs in livestock production]{.underline}. Reducing the
need for hay by extending the grazing season and increasing forage
quality will increase the profitability of forage-based livestock
systems. ARS researchers in Beaver, West Virginia found that forage
grown under moderate tree canopies had higher protein than similar
forages grown in open pastures. The forages growing in woodlots also
tended to grow later in the fall because the canopy moderated climatic
change. Grazing livestock in woodlots can provide a low-cost source of
protein while extending the grazing season thereby reducing the need for
supplemental feed. However, the understory forage is lower in energy
than pasture forages so managers need to ensure there are adequate
sources of energy available to utilize the protein. Taking an
agroforestry approach to woodlot management to supply both forages and
wood products can turn land that is often considered as marginal into
viable part of the farm enterprise.

[Reducing the prevalence of E. coli and Salmonella in beef
cattle]{.underline}. Reducing the shedding of Escherichia coli 0157:H7
and Salmonella in beef cattle feces reduces risks to human health and
the producer. ARS scientists at Booneville, Arkansas, working with ARS
scientists at College Station, Texas, evaluated management practices to
reduce pathogen shedding. They found that feeding hay to grazing cattle
reduced E. coli shedding and feeding the dewormer, fenbendazole, reduced
Salmonella shedding. The Booneville scientists working with ARS
scientists from Lexington and Kentucky, and University of Arkansas
scientists, found that reducing the presence of muddy conditions around
cattle watering tanks decreased the prevalence of E. coli. These results
show that management practices can reduce fecal shedding of pathogens
and lead to safer meat products.

**Problem Area F**: Need for Profitable and Environmentally Sustainable
Pasture-Livestock Systems in the Great Plains

[Improving profitability of stocker enterprises with perennial
cool-season grasses]{.underline}. Millions of cattle graze winter wheat
or warm season grasses in the southern Great Plains to achieve low-cost
weight gains en route to feedlots. This two-forage system does have
seasonal gaps in forage availability and quality that limits the
flexibility and profitability of the stocker enterprise. ARS scientists
at El Reno, Oklahoma continue to seek ways to fill the seasonal gaps.
They found that replacing a portion of the winter wheat fields with
endophyte-free tall fescue could significantly increase animal gains.
With minimal management, the addition of the tall fescue extended the
grazing season by 30 days and produced comparable gains as using winter
wheat alone but at lower cost. By increasing management and doing
intensive grazing (2 or 3 times normal stocking rates) for 35 days in
the fall and spring when winter wheat and warm-season grasses were not
available, an additional 145 pounds of gain per head were obtained.
Using this information, producers can increase cost-effective gains and
have greater flexibility in marketing livestock.

[Managing pastures to control fluxes in greenhouse gases]{.underline}.
ARS scientists at Mandan, North Dakota, evaluated the effects of
long-term grazing on soil carbon properties and nitrous oxide emissions
on fertilized crested wheatgrass pasture and unfertilized native mixed
grass pasture. Soil organic matter was greater in the fertilized pasture
than the native pasture both near the surface (0-2 inches) and at
greater depths (12-24 inches). However, the fertilization caused greater
soil acidity and the annual nitrous oxide emissions were over three-fold
higher than on the native pasture. Results of this study will help
managers balance the trade-off between livestock production, carbon
sequestration and nitrous oxide emissions in achieving economic and
environmental sustainability.

**Problem Area G**: Need for Profitable and Environmentally Sustainable
Pasture-Livestock Systems in the Northeast and North Central States

[Managing seed banks to control invasive weeds]{.underline}. Buried
seeds in pasture soils serve as a seed bank for both desirable forage
species and weeds. ARS scientists at University Park, Pennsylvania, over
three years, evaluated management practices to reduce the quantities of
weeds in the soil seed bank by evaluating the relationship between four
different above-ground-plant mixtures and below-ground seeds. They found
no relationship between composition of the above-ground plant mixtures
and the number of germinable seeds in the soil, and little relationship
between the seed-bank species composition and the species in the
above-ground plant mixtures. However they did find that annual weed
species were less abundant in the seed banks containing a greater
variety of forage plant species than the pastures containing a two
forage-species combination. Therefore, pasture managers may be able to
reduce the presence of annual weeds by planting more complex mixtures of
forage species than the more traditional two-species systems, e.g., a
grass and a clover.

**Component III**. Sustainable Harvested Forage Systems for Livestock,
Bioenergy and Bioproducts

**Problem Area H**: Need for Improved Plant Materials to improve the
profitability and environmental sustainability of Using Harvested
Grasses and Forage Legumes for Livestock, Bioenergy and Byproducts
production.

[Improving alfalfa breeding by whole genome transcript
analysis]{.underline}.  ARS researchers at St. Paul, Minnesota, used the
Medicago GeneChip to identify gene transcripts specific to alfalfa
leaves and roots.  The GeneChip was developed primarily from gene
sequences from barrel medic.  Although barrel medic is a close relative
of alfalfa, scientists did not know whether the chip has utility for
measuring gene expression in alfalfa.  They found the chip\'s utility
was very high because it allows analysis of all genes in both alfalfa
and barrel medic.  The two species share a high proportion of genes
expressed in leaves and roots although species-specific genes were
identified.   Using the GeneChip will accelerate alfalfa improvement by
speeding up the discovery of genes for improving disease resistance,
environmental stress tolerance, animal nutrition, and bioenergy
potential.

[Increasing alfalfa resistance to verticillium wilt]{.underline}.
Verticillium wilt can reduce alfalfa yields up to 50% in northern
regions of the U.S. so increasing resistance to this wilt is a goal of
all the companies breeding improved alfalfa varieties. Although wilt is
a major problem, there has been a lack of knowledge of how resistance is
inherited in alfalfa. ARS researchers at Prosser, Washington studied two
alfalfa populations over time that were repeatedly exposed to wilt and
determined that resistance is highly heritable and controlled by
additive gene action. With this new knowledge, breeders can more
effectively develop new resistant varieties.

**Problem Area J**: Need for economically viable, energy efficient and
environmentally sustainable production systems for establishing,
growing, maintaining, harvesting, treating, storing and transporting
forages for livestock, bioenergy, byproducts and conservation
objectives.

[Potential Impact of bioenergy crops on greenhouse gas
emissions]{.underline}. Bioenergy cropping systems have the potential to
offset a portion of greenhouse emissions but quantifying the offsets is
difficult because so many factors are involved. ARS scientists at
University Park, Pennsylvania and Ft. Collins, Colorado working with
Colorado State University conducted life cycle analysis of net
greenhouse gas emissions for several bioenergy cropping systems. The
findings were compared with the life cycle emissions of gasoline and
diesel from production through utilization. The life cycle analysis for
bioenergy crops went from establishing and growing the crop through
harvesting and conversion to utilization of the biofuel. When compared
to fossil fuels, ethanol and biodiesel from corn rotations reduced gas
emissions by 35-40%; reed canarygrass reduced emissions by 85%; and
switchgrass and hybrid poplar reduced emissions by more than 115%. These
findings can help policy makers select between alternative bioenergy
production systems to help achieve national objectives including
reducing gas emissions while increasing domestic energy supplies.

[Economic feasibility of growing switchgrass for bioenergy]{.underline}.
On-farm trials are required to determine the economic feasibility of
producing switchgrass as bioenergy crop in the eastern Great Plains so
the nation can accurately assess the feasibility of this energy option.
ARS scientists at Lincoln, Nebraska in cooperation with the University
of Nebraska managed and assessed switchgrass production for five years
on 10 farms spread across Nebraska and the Dakotas. Average yield was
3.4 tons/acre with average production cost of \$33/ton plus \$17/ton for
land rent. Pro-rating the establishment costs over 9 years would reduce
costs by \$6/ton. Two farmers experienced in switchgrass production were
able to produce the biomass for less than \$40/ton including land costs.
At this cost, the farm-gate feedstock cost per gallon of ethanol
produced would be about \$0.50 per gallon. Therefore, biomass production
costs can be feasible so overall economic viability depends primarily on
conversion costs.

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###### Component IV. Turf Plant Materials

Problem Area K: There is a need for improved germplasm that is adapted
to biotic and abiotic stresses to reduce economic and increase
environmental sustainability while meeting the objectives of turf
producers and users.

[Selecting best turfgrass varieties for different climates]{.underline}.
The National Turfgrass Evaluation Program (NTEP) housed in ARS
facilities at Beltsville, Maryland, conducts a national program that
evaluated the performance of 20 turfgrass species in trials conducted in
forty states. While this is an evaluation project conducted mainly by
university personnel it provides valuable information to those
scientists seeking opportunities to improve plant varieties and the
management of turf systems. In 2005/2006, extreme cold temperatures in
the Midwest allowed evaluators to collect data on the winter tolerance
of different varieties of perennial ryegrass and bent grass. Very warm
summer temperatures in 2005 in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states
provided data on the heat tolerance of the same species. In the near
term, this information will help turf managers select the best cultivars
for their climatic situation. In the longer term, scientists can
evaluate the most cold and heat tolerant cultivars to identify the
processes producing this behavior and the genes that may be controlling
these processes. If genes controlling such processes are identified,
plant breeders maybe able to develop more tolerant cultivars.