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LATE WINTER COOL-SEASON ANNUAL FORAGE PLANTINGS

FOR SPRING PRODUCTION

 

 

C. Grimes, K.J. Simon, D. Kennedy, & J.O.C. Kubesch1

 

 

Cool-season annual grasses are often overseeded into bermudagrass pastures in the southeastern United States. These complementary forages can be planted in the fall or in late winter to extend the growing season. Late winter plantings are usually planted to provide an early hay crop or to provide forage for grazing where perennial stands have been affected by adverse weather conditions. The optimum late winter planting date is not well established for these annual forages. Our objective was to compare three late-winter planting dates on forage mass of four annual grasses. This experiment was conducted at the Arkansas State University farm in Jonesboro, AR from 2021-2024. Winter wheat, spring and winter oats, and annual ryegrass were no-till planted into a glyphosate-suppressed bermudagrass sod on one of three planting dates. Early planting dates were in late February, Mid planting dates were in mid-March, and Late planting dates were in late March. Plots were harvested once in late May of each year. Winter wheat was the least productive forage across planting dates in all years. Spring oats were the most productive forage. The early and mid-planting dates produced similar amounts of forage at time of harvest. Late plantings were less productive. These results were consistent despite the variability in weather conditions across multiple seasons. This experiment suggests that the optimal planting period for late winter-planted annual forages is between late February and mid-March in the southeastern U.S.A.

 

1 County Extension Agent, University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, Jonesboro, AR (cgrimes@uada.edu); Forages Instructor, University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, Little Rock, AR (ksimon@uada.edu); Forage Specialist, University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, Little Rock, AR (jkubesch@uada.edu); Associate Dean and Professor of Animal Science, A-State University, Jonesboro, AR (dkennedy@astate.edu)