VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Agrostis gigantea | Redtop 



WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE : 
Redtop is grown for livestock forage on moist sites [15].


PALATABILITY : 
Redtop forage in moist meadows generally remains green and palatable
throughout the growing season [62].  Redtop has fairly good palatability
to livestock in spring and early summer, but palatability decreases
after seeds are mature and is poor in the winter [57].  Redtop is not as
palatable as other meadow grasses such as timothy (Phleum pratense) and
Kentucky bluegrass [66].


NUTRITIONAL VALUE : 
Redtop forage averages 14.8 percent protein, 5.0 percent ether extract,
27.1 percent crude fiber, 44.7 percent nitrogen-free extract, and 5.6
percent lignin (dry weight) [17].


COVER VALUE : 
Redtop is preferred nesting cover for prairie chickens.  They began
using redtop, grown for seed in Illinois and Missouri, when the native
prairie habitat became scarce [60].  See FIRE MANAGEMENT for further
discussion of redtop management for prairie chickens.


VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES : 
Redtop is used for temporary erosion control.  Redtop is adapted to wet,
poorly drained conditions and is often used to improve streambank
stability [56,61].  It grows well on acidic and clayey sites [56].
Redtop colonized metal-contaminated soil in the smelting region near
Sudbury, Ontario [63].  It has been used with other grasses to
revegetate abandoned manganese mines in southwestern Virginia and
northeastern Tennessee [41].  Redtop was planted with other grasses on
lands disturbed by the Trans-Alaska Pipeline [9].


OTHER USES AND VALUES : 
NO-ENTRY


MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Prior to 1940, redtop was one of the most commonly grown pasture grasses
in the U.S.  Its use has declined considerably since then because it is
less palatable than other meadow grasses [15,66] and because soybeans
became a more economical crop in regions where redtop was grown [60].
Redtop is now used primarily on nutrient-poor or poorly drained soils
for hay and pasture [15].  Planting, seed harvest, and storage of redtop
seeds is described [20,57].

Redtop is favored by grazing [11,19,37].  Redtop decreased substantially
in exclosures protected from grazing for 12 years in Idaho [37].  

Redtop does not inhibit growth of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa)
seedlings when they are planted together after fire [3].

Redtop is very susceptible to the herbicide atrazine.  In prairie
vegetation in the Midwest, atrazine is used to eliminate or suppress
cool-season grasses such as redtop while either enhancing or having a
neutral effect on warm-season grasses [48].

Related categories for Species: Agrostis gigantea | Redtop