VALUE AND USE
SPECIES : Bromus hordeaceus | Soft Chess 



IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE : 
Soft chess is nutritious and palatable forage.  Sampson and others [81]
rated it the best forage of all California's annual bromes.  The awns
are short and soft, and livestock graze soft chess even after seeds
mature.  Because soft chess matures later than most annual grasses and
the seeds do not readily shatter, cattle graze it well into summer,
gaining extra nutrition from the seeds [80,81].

Use of soft chess by native ungulates may be sparse in some areas.  In
Point Reyes National Park, California, tule elk and mule deer avoided
soft chess and ripgut brome.  Although grasses were the primary
component in the fall diets of tule elk, the elk used the annual bromes
very little.  Grasses were less important in the diets of mule deer, but
annual bromes were the least preferred of the grass species that the
mule deer grazed [37].


PALATABILITY : 
In Montana and Utah, palatability of soft chess has been rated fair for
wild and domestic ungulates, small mammals, small nongame birds, and
upland game birds.  Palatability was rated poor for waterfowl in Utah
[26].


NUTRITIONAL VALUE : 
Nutritional content of fresh, immature soft chess was as follows [73]:

Protein (N x 6.25, %)           Potassium (%)     4.00
  cattle          14.2          Ash (%)          12.2 
  domestic goats  14.5          Crude fiber (%)  24.2
  horses          13.8          Calcium (%)       0.59
  rabbits         13.5          Phosphorus (%)    0.39
  domestic sheep  14.9


COVER VALUE : 
In Utah, cover value of soft chess for small mammals, small nongame
birds, and upland game birds was rated fair.  Cover value for waterfowl
was rated poor [26].


VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES : 
NO-ENTRY


OTHER USES AND VALUES : 
Soft chess is planted for hay.  The seed is commerically available
[22,25].


MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Annual grasslands - Soft chess and other exotic annuals probably
replaced native California prairie because native perennial grasses were
severely overgrazed over several periods of extended drought [45,61,74].
Annual grasses are far more prolific seed producers than are perennials.
Once established, soft chess and other annual grasses probably
interfered greatly with perennial grass regrowth, seed production, and
seedling establishment [61].  In a greenhouse experiment, soft chess has
also been shown to interfere with seedling establishment of coyote bush
(Baccharis pilularis), a native chaparral shrub [23].  Soft chess and
other exotic annuals can probably not be eliminated from the California
flora [45,58,61].  Although some fire and grazing treatments have
reduced soft chess and other annuals, results have been mixed.

Control:  grazing - Soft chess may be partially controlled by spring
grazing.  Defoliation within a week after flowering has been found to be
effective in reducing seed formation in annual bromes [30].  Laude [67]
found that removing terminal buds of soft chess prevented leaf
elongation and seed production.  Treatments of spring grazing and fall
fire have been successful in reducing soft chess (see FIRE MANAGEMENT
CONSIDERATIONS).

No grazing - Attempts to reduce reduce soft chess cover by cessation of
grazing have sometimes suceeded.  In the short term, cover of soft chess
and other annuals declined after cattle were removed from Golden Gate
National Recreation Area, California, in 1984.  The next 3 years were
droughty, but native perennial cover increased relative to cover of
annuals despite low rainfall [88].  Cessation of grazing also reduced
soft chess in an upper riparian zone in eastern Oregon.  On plots with
10 years of late summer cattle grazing, soft chess cover increased
greatly:  Cover on grazed plots was 1.7 percent the first year of the
study and 47.5 percent in the tenth year.  On exclosures, cover of soft
chess declined over the 10-year study period [39].  However, Heady [45]
found that in Mendocino County, California, soft chess and other annuals
continued to dominate the Hopland Field Station despite protection from
grazing for at least 40 years.

Fire - Studies using prescribed fire to control soft chess are discussed
in the FIRE EFFECTS section.

Related categories for SPECIES : Bromus hordeaceus | Soft Chess