I've been asked by a farmer to look into the possibilities of so-called Russian grass or lewensgras (Phalaris sp.) as a pasture for his livestock. I'm struggling to find independent research on it and details of productivity.
What is the species name - most websites simply refer to it as Phalaris sp.?
What productivity can one expect? One website claims 20t/ha DM under irrigation, 11t/ha dryland. Does anyone have further information?
NEVER PLANT THIS GRASS, EVEN A SINGLE PLANT IN YOUR COUNTRY. If this plant is not native to your country, do not being it in!!!
In California about 80 years ago our US Department of Agriculture introduced this grass as a pasture grass, with the horrible effects of forming solid stands and invading downwind with its seeds spread by rodents and birds at the rate of about one mile per year.
The plant spreads at a five-fold rate each year. So a single plant first year, produces five when in the second year produces 25, third year 125, etc. The other downside is that the plant contains mind-altering chemicals, 5-Methoxy-DMT which keeps most animals from eating it, and can cause "sheep staggers"
In my area, this plant was only planted in one small pasture originally, and now there is so much of it from that original small planting, that it is estimated to cost one billion dollars to get this weed under control. Attached is a picture of the infestation.
We all need to focus on the native grasses for forage, instead of introducing new weeds to our countries. For example, we have over 300 native grasses in California, but almost no research has been done to replant those grasses. Instead the work has been to introduce new weedy species, which has helped to destroy the original native ecosystems, causing their spatial extinction.
I wrote about this issue of intentionally introducing weeds at http://www.ecoseeds.com/juicy.gossip.six.html.
If you are referring to Phalaris arundinancea, we have good production data in a paper we published in the Natural Areas journal. We certainly would not recommend planting this for forage or any other purpose anywhere. Even cultivars, through introgressive hybridization have reverted to aggressive invasive traits, have alkaloids reducing the palability and digestabilty of forage produced from this grass. It has proven to be associated with serious declining native species biodiversity, stream and water ways erosion (because most of its root mass is in the upper several inches of the soil surface as opposed to what is found with deeper rooted plant native grasses. I hope this helps...Steve
Thanks Steve and Craig.
This is definitely worrying. I'll look into whether any research has been done on invasion in South Africa. Apparently the grass was introduced in the 1930s here but has only recently been gaining popularity as a pasture crop. Farmers are singing its praises, and there are no reports that I can find (yet) of animal health problems, so I need to find out the species name.
Steve, unfortunately I don't know whether this is Phalaris arundinancea, as the specific name is not mentioned in any sources I have found. We have another Phalaris, P tuberosa, but I don't think it's the one that farmers here call "Russian grass".
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