| Martha H. Martin-R., Jerry R. Cox and Fernando A. Ibarra-F. |
| Martin-R.and Ibarra-F. are graduate students, Range Science Department, Utah State University and USDA-Agricultural research Service, Forage and Range Research Laboratory, Utah State University, Logan, UT., 84322-6300. Both are permanently stationed at Centro de Investigaciones Pecuaries del Estato de Sonora, Apdo Postal 1754, Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico; Cox is resident director of research and range extension specialist, Texas A&M University, Agricultural Research and ExtensionCenter, Vernon, TX., 76385. When this research was initiated, Cox was a range scientist with USDA-ARS Research Service in Tucson, AZ and Logan, UT. |
Abstract |
| Buffelgrass (Cenchrus cilaris L.), a perennial bunchgrass from northcentral Kenya has been successfully seeded on 400,000 ha in northwest Mexico. To determine if carrying capacity increased after buffelgrass introduction we measured live, recent-dead standing, old-dead standing and litter at 2-week intervals for three years. Live biomass was produced throughout the year but peak production, over the 3 years was in August. Peak live biomass production varied from 465 kg/ha in a summer of below-average precipitation to 3,045 kg/ha in a summer of above-average precipitation. Recent- and old-dead standing quantities were highly variable among years and transfers among components were dependent on temperature and precipitation. Buffelgrass annually produces about 3 times more green forage than native grasses. |
| Key Words: Cenchrus ciliarus, above-ground biomass composition, perennial introduced grass, northwest Mexico, hot desert, North America. |