No-Till Seeding Chicory into Bermudagrass Sod Results in Poor Chicory Stands in South Central Oklahoma

I n the southern plains of the United States, introduced and native warm-season perennial grasses are the major forages (6). Bermudagrass [Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers.] is one of the most important warm-season perennial introduced forages (3). Bermudagrass goes dormant at the occurrence of the irst killing frost in the fall and remains dormant until ater the last spring frost (3). his creates a deicit in bermudagrass forage availability for grazing livestock (7). his gap in forage availability for livestock can be illed by establishing cool-season annual grasses as monocultures (8) or interseeding them into bermudagrass pastures (3), hay feeding, or a combination of all. Reliable coolseason perennial forages to help ill this deicit are lacking. Chicory (Cichorium intybus L.), a deep rooted, herbaceous cool-season perennial (5–7 yr) herb is native to Europe, Western and Central Asia, North Africa, and South America but not North America (2). It is used as a leaf vegetable, salad crop, or fructose crop, and its roots are used as a cofee substitute (4). ‘Grasslands Puna’ chicory was the irst chicory developed and released for forage production (9). Chicory produced suicient forage quantity for September harvest in Kentucky (2). In Oklahoma, chicory produced grazeable early fall forage (September–October) over a 2-yr study (13). Chicory forage typically has been reported as having crude protein (CP) and in vitro dry matter disappearance (IVDMD) of 15.8 and 85.3%, respectively (10). An Oklahoma chicory grazing study reported pregrazing average CP content of 18.7% and IVDMD of 70.9% (13). Steer average daily gains in Mississippi were reported ranging from 2.36 to 2.69 lb/day over a 3-yr grazing study (5). Successful clean till establishment of chicory has resulted from late spring, early summer (1,2,13), or September (5) plantings. Chicory was no-till seeded in March into existing pastures as part of a ive-species mixture in Pennsylvania but stands declined from 54% of the total biomass to 0% in 3 yr (11). Information on the no-till establishment of chicory into existing bermudagrass is lacking. Using chicory as early fall forage could complement bermudagrass production and chicory’s perennial growth habit Published in Forage and Grazinglands DOI 10.2134/FG-2012-0161-BR © 2014 American Society of Agronomy and Crop Science Society of America 5585 Guilford Rd., Madison, WI 53711