VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Bromus carinatus | California Brome 



WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE : 
Livestock:  California brome provides high-quality forage [32] and is
sometimes planted as a pasture grass.  The Colorado State University
Extension Service described it as "one of the best forage grasses" in
Colorado.  On rangelands of the Intermountain West, livestock graze
California brome from early spring until seed dispersal.  All
aboveground parts of the plant are used; the seedheads are palatable and
nutritious [34].  Herbage volume is rated fair [32,34].

Wildlife:  Elk prefer California brome [79].  It is listed as an
important summer forage species for Rocky Mountain elk in northern Idaho
[51].  Roosevelt elk on Boyes Prairie of northwestern California grazed
California brome more than its percentage cover would predict.
California brome was not plentiful, however, and was not listed as a
leading forage species for the elk [30].
  
Grizzly bear consume California brome [88].

Various small animals including rodents and geese graze California brome
foliage, and the seeds furnish food for many bird and rodent species
[79].

Although California brome coverage was minor (1.2%), Columbian ground
squirrel on subalpine sites on the Payette National Forest of Idaho
comsumed four times more California brome than any other graminoid [50].

California brome and cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) provided from 3 to 38
percent (average 17.3%) of the summer and fall diets of western pocket
gopher in south-central Oregon.  The bromes comprised less than 1
percent of total vegetation cover [12].


PALATABILITY : 
California brome is palatable to all classes of livestock throughout the
growing season.  Plants become fibrous at maturity but livestock readily
graze the ripe seedheads.  Domestic sheep have shown rapid weight gain
on ranges with an abundance of ripe California brome seedheads [67,68].

Sampson [67] rated California brome's overall palatability as "high."
Stubbendieck and others [79] rated its patalability as excellent for
cattle, horses, and elk and good for deer and domestic sheep.
Palatability in several western states has been rated as follows [20]:

                      CO          MT         UT          WY
 
Cattle               good        good       good      fair-good         
Sheep                good        good     fair-good     good         
Horses               good        good     fair-good     good   
Pronghorn            ----        poor     poor-good     poor    
Elk                  ----        poor       good        good   
Mule deer            ----        poor     fair-good     fair   
White-tailed deer    ----        poor       ----        fair
Small mammals        ----        poor       good        good         
Small nongame birds  ----        poor     fair-good     fair   
Upland game birds    ----        ----       fair        fair         
Waterfowl            ----        ----       poor        poor   


NUTRITIONAL VALUE : 
Nutritional content of fresh, mature California brome collected in the
United States was as follows [59]:

dry matter (%)    56.2
ash (%)            2.8
crude fiber (%)   24.2
ether extract (%)  1.1
protein (%)        2.8
calcium (%)        0.20
phosphorus (%)     0.11

Avergage percentage dry matter and chemical composition of California
brome collected on summer range (quaking aspen and big sagebrush) in the
Cache National Forest of Utah varied seasonally as follows [13]:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
           Dry      Ether             Cellu-         Other carbo-  Crude
Date      matter   extract   Protein   lose   Lignin   hydrates    fiber
------------------------------------------------------------------------
July   8   36.4     2.44      8.23    43.09    7.49     33.07      38.62
July  31   49.9     1.52      5.45    42.72    9.26     35.66      39.02
Aug.  28   63.1     1.92      3.33    49.49    9.65     30.99      46.88
Sept. 27   78.2     1.82      3.23    49.88    9.73     30.71      47.52
------------------------------------------------------------------------


COVER VALUE : 
The degree to which California brome provides cover for small mammals
and birds has been rated as follows [20]:

                       MT      UT       WY
Small mammals         fair    good     good
Small nongame birds   fair    good     good
Upland game birds     good  fair-good  fair
Waterfowl             ----    poor     poor   


VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES : 
California brome is useful for revegetating disturbed sites due to rapid
establishment and good soil stabilizing capability [73].  It has proved
effective for stabilizing watersheds [77].  In the Intermountain West,
it is recommended for revegetating mid- to high-elevation sites [27,32].

California brome seed is available commercially [2,17,27,73].  `Bromar'
is a fast-growing, palatable cultivar recommended for revegetating
high-elevation sites [27].  `Cucamonga brome' is a cultivar from
California grassland stock. It was one of several native California
prairie grasses that established well on annual grassland [2].  Seeding
rate recommendations for western rangelands are available [1,32,38].

In Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, seeded California brome showed
differential establishment on abandoned roads with various site
treatments.  Seedling establishment was best with addition of topsoil
followed by fertilizing, ripping, seeding, and mulching.  Establishment
was worst with seeding only.  With each treatment, sowing with native
seed resulted in better California brome coverage than sowing with
commercial seed [15].

California brome and seaside brome have been successfully established on
waterfront sites of the San Franscisco Bay Area [43].  


OTHER USES AND VALUES : 
NO-ENTRY


MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
California brome does not respond to most herbicides.  Trifluralin has
shown fair control [11].

California brome is reduced by heavy grazing [79].  It may be favored by
light to moderate grazing.  In a dry mountain meadow in north-central
Idaho, it was less abundant inside an exclosure than outside the
exclosure, where continuous light cattle grazing occurred [l53].
Mueggler [57] found that California brome on the Gallatin Game Preserve
of Montana showed better herbage and flowerstalk production on clipped
plots than on unclipped control plots for the first 2 years of monthly
clipping during the growing season.  Production on clipped plots dropped
below production on control plots, however, in the third year.  Mueggler
attributed increased productivity of California brome in the first 2
years of clipping to release from competition from forbs, which
responded poorly to clipping.

Related categories for Species: Bromus carinatus | California Brome