VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Bromus inermis | Smooth Brome 



WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE : 
Livestock:  Smooth brome cultivars have been bred for nutritional
quality and adaptation to selected climates.  This has made smooth brome
one of the most important exotic forage grasses in the United States and
Canada.  It is widely planted in pastures and rangelands from Texas to
Alaska and Yukon Territory [87,88,110].

Wildlife:  Grazing wildlife utilize smooth brome to varying degrees,
depending upon wildlife species and smooth brome quality.  Elk use it as
a winter food [63].  Mule deer in central Utah were found to use it only
lightly [7], but deer utilization of smooth brome is generally
considered good [40,110].  Geese [26] and small rodents such as pocket
gophers [81] also graze smooth brome.  The seeds may not be preferred by
granivores.  Everett and others [46] found that when offered the seed of
18 herbaceous species, deer mouse selected smooth brome seed the least.

Smooth brome provides cover for birds and small mammals [10].  Ducks,
[33,78], gray partridge [27], American bittern, northern harrier, and
short-eared owl [41] use it as nesting cover.


PALATABILITY : 
Early growth of smooth brome is highly palatable.  Palatability and
nutritional quality drop rapidly after flowering.  Fall green-up
provides palatable forage later in the year [110].

The palatability of smooth brome has been rated as follows [40]:

                    UT       CO       WY       MT       ND
cattle             good     good     good     good     good   
domestic sheep     good     good     good     good     good
horses             good     good     good     good     good


NUTRITIONAL VALUE : 
The National Academy of Sciences [89] found the nutritional content of
fresh, flowering smooth brome in the United States was as follows:

dry matter (%)         27.1
ash (%)                 1.9
crude fiber (%)         8.3
ether extract (%)       0.9
N-free extract(%)      13.2
protein (%, N x 6.25)   2.8
digestible energy (Mcal/kg)
  cattle                0.79
  domestic sheep        0.78

Nutritional content of fresh smooth brome in immature, early bloom,
milk, dough, overripe, and weathered stages, and of cured smooth brome
in each stage, is also available [89].

The nutritional value of smooth brome for wildlife has been rated as
follows [40]:
                         UT     CO     WY     MT     ND
elk                    good    good   ----   poor   ----
mule deer              good    fair   ----   ----   poor 
white-tailed deer      ----    ----   ----   ----   poor
upland game birds      good    ----   ----   ----   poor
small nongame birds    fair    ----   ----   ----   ----
waterfowl              fair    ----   ----   fair   ----
small mammals          good    good   ----   ----   ----


COVER VALUE : 
The cover value of smooth brome has been rated as follows [40]:

                           UT     CO     WY      MT      ND
upland game birds        fair    ----   ----    good    good
waterfowl                fair    ----   ----    ----    fair
small nongame burds      good    fair   ----    fair    fair
small mammals            good    fair   ----    good    ----


VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES : 
Smooth brome has been extensisvely used for rehabiliation.  It is cold
hardy and fairly resistant to saline soils and drought [117].  The
ability of most cultivars to spread rhizomatously makes smooth brome a
good soil binder [56,103,104].  It is recommended for erosion control
and streambank and stream bottom stabilization in all areas of the
United States except the Southeast [104,118].  Southern cultivars tend
to be more strongly rhizomatous than northern cultivars, and generally
give the best erosion control [64].  Some southern cultivars will grow
in northern latitudes of the United States [25].  Smooth brome has also
been successful in rehabilitating mined lands [38,43], game ranges
[51,65], roadsides [42], and ski areas [12].  Smooth brome establishes
on high-elevation sites [56].  It can be an aggressive colonizer on many
sites, however, and may crowd out native species [107].

Smooth brome showed poor survivorship on semiarid canyonland in
northwestern Idaho that was disked and seeded with several grass species
to remove yellow starthistle (Centaurea solstitialis) [92].


OTHER USES AND VALUES : 
NO-ENTRY


MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Range:  Smooth brome's tolerance to grazing is generally rated as high
[56].  It is highly adaptable, having persisted in many of the habitats
where it was planted to increase forage production including
pinyon-juniper (Pinus-Juniperus spp.) [39], quaking aspen (Populus
tremuloides) [21], and subalpine and alpine ranges [56,102].  It has
persisted on old saltgrass (Distichlis spicata) meadows with saline
soils once the saltgrass was removed [84,85].

Smooth brome may not tolerate grazing on all habitat or site types.
Currie and Smith [36] reported that smooth brome planted on
low-fertility ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forest soils in Colorado
declined under even light-intensity cattle grazing.  They speculated
that smooth brome is more likely to persist under cattle grazing on
fertile soils.

Laycock and Conrad [77] used cattle to test several grazing systems on
rangeland seeded to crested wheatgrasses (Agropyron cristatum and A.
desertorum) and smooth brome in mountain big sagebrush (Artemisia
tridentats spp. vasyana) habitat in Utah.  They found that average
cattle weight gain was the same under all systems, but heavy June
grazing in alternate years best promoted grass production.

Ungulates in Yellowstone National Park utilized smooth brome growing in
association with other graminoids and forbs, but did not graze smooth
brome where it grew in a monoculture [48].

Forestry:  In British Columbia, height and biomass of lodgepole pine
(Pinus contorta var. latifolia) seedlings established from a mix of
lodgepole pine seed and smooth brome and other grass seed were less
than height and biomass of lodgepole pine seedlings established from
lodgepole pine seed sown alone [28].

Native grassland restoration:  Smooth brome dominates many native
grasslands and old fields [2].  Masters and Vogel [82] stated that on
tallgrass prairie, it is usually found in areas with a history of
overgrazing and/or fire exclusion.  Grassland restoration efforts often
include controlling smooth brome with cool-season grass herbicides such
as atrazine and glyphosate, mowing, and/or prescribed fire [73].

Anderson [2] found that near Lincoln, Nebraska, fall application of
glyphosate helped control smooth brome.  Atrazine may not be as
effective; other studies [83,96] have reported that while atrazine
controlled other exotic cool-season grasses, it did not significantly
reduce smooth brome.

Establishment and maintenance:  Seed handling and planting guidelines
for smooth brome are available [49,116,117].  Cultivars adapted to
selected environments and/or regions are sold commercially
[56,103,104,108,119,123].

Smooth brome requires fertile soil in order to maintain nutritional
quality.  On infertile soils it needs periodic fertilization or a
companion nitrogen fixer.  On rangelands smooth brome is usually planted
in a mix with alfalfa (Medicago sativa), yellow sweet clover (Melilotus
officinalis), or other legume species.  Fertilization affects growth
allocation:  Watkins [120] found that fertilizers increased leaf and
shoot growth but reduced rhizome and root growth.

Rhizomatous cultivars become sod-bound after several years unless litter
is removed by grazing and/or fire [56,110].

Related categories for Species: Bromus inermis | Smooth Brome