Establishment of Binary Perennial Legume-Annual Warm-Season Grass Mixtures.

This experiment evaluated effects of establishment of perennial legumes with an annual warm-season grass as a companion crop.  The experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block with a split plot arrangement of treatments and three replications at Lincoln, NE in 2016.  Whole-plots consisted of three common forage legume species: alfalfa (Medicago sativa L. 'Ranger'), birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L. 'Norcen'), and [red clover (Trifolium pratense L. 'Medium') and three native prairie legume species: Illinois bundleflower [Desmanthus illinoensis (Michx.) MacM.], purple prairie clover (Dalea purpurea Vent.), and roundhead lespedeza (Lespedeza capitata).  Subplots consisted of four annual companion crop treatments: 1) none (negative control) and forage harvested in October; 2) none with weedy grasses sprayed (positive control) and forage harvested in October; 3) sorghum-sudangrass seeded at 0.39X rate (4 PLS/ft2) and forage harvested in October; and 4) sorghum-sudangrass seeded at 0.39X rate (4 PLS/ft2) and harvested mid-summer and again in October.