SWARD ASSESSMENT OF TEN IRRIGATED PASTURE MIXTURES IN SOUTHERN SASKATCHEWAN

Abstract

Ten grass-legume mixtures were evaluated for pasture production and growth distribution on irrigated land under high fertility levels. Yearling heifers weighing about 325 kg were used as the grazing animals. A mixture of Troy Kentucky bluegrass, Poa pratensis, and Rambler alfalfa, Medicago media, was the best, followed by a mixture of reed canarygrass, Phalaris arundinacea, creeping red fescue, Festuca rubra, and Rambler alfalfa. Birdsfoot trefoil, Lotus corniculatus, and white Dutch clover, Trifolium repens, proved to be inferior legumes to alfalfa in mixtures because they failed to persist beyond the third year. Carlton bromegrass, Bromus inermis, Chief intermediate wheatgrass, Agropyron intermedium, and Climax timothy, Phleum pratense, displayed poor growth distribution patterns, and the latter two tended to disappear from the stand in the fourth year after seeding.