Yield, water use efficiency, and forage quality of ‘Eski’ sainfoin (Onobrychis viciaefolia Scop.) were examined at the Central Great Plains Field Station, Akron, Colo. to determine its potential as a forage crop under dryland conditions. Despite below‐average rainfall during both years of the experiment, average seasonal forage yields over all treatments were 3,494 and 2,383 kg/ha dry matter for 1969 and 1970, respectively. Most of the forage yield was produced by the first cutting. Water use efficiency was high for the first cutting, but was low for the second cutting due to the slow regrowth. A prolonged late‐season drought stress occurred during both years and plants were dormant during this time. Roots extracted soil moisture from depths of 180 cm. Survival rate over the 2‐year period was slightly lower for plants harvested consistently at the early bloom stage of maturity. Forage quality, in terms of leaf, protein, and mineral percentages, cell wall components, and in vitro dry matter digestibility decreased little from early to late‐bloom maturity. This could be attributed to the high retention of leaves and rapid rate of maturation. Leaves had higher percentages of protein, in vitro digestibility, Ca, and Mg and had lower percentages of cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, cellwall constituents, and K than stems.
The objective of this study was to determine if the leaf azimuthal orientation of grain sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) was at random. Plants were grown in each of four row directions, North‐South (N‐S), Northeast‐ Southwest (NE‐SW), East‐West (E‐W), and Northwest‐ Southeast (NW‐SE). In 1972, from 8 to 16 August, there was a strong bimodal azimuthal orientation which was either east‐west or perpendicular to the rows. In addition, there was a significantly larger proportion of leaves to the south of the east‐west axis than to the north. In 1973, three readings were taken: 17 or 18 July, 2 or 3 August, and 29 or 30 August. On the earliest sampling, a significant proportion of leaves faced west rather than east. Orientation was altered with the emergence of the flag leaves, of which 60% faced east. We concluded that leaf orientation was not distributed randomly either year.
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