• IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE
• PALATABILITY
• NUTRITIONAL VALUE
• COVER VALUE
• VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES
• OTHER USES AND VALUES
• MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS

IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE:

Young mat muhly is readily eaten by livestock. Plants become less palatable as they mature. Mat muhly cures well in the northern Great Plains and is grazed by all classes of livestock, especially in the winter [12,40]. Pieper [32] reported that in a New Mexico pinyon-juniper grassland , mat muhly only comprised 8% of cattle diets over 3 years, although during 1 of these years from January to March mat muhly comprised 24% of the diet.

Mat muhly plants usually grow in scattered patches, so they are seldom sufficiently abundant to be of major importance to livestock [9,40]. On a fertilized blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis) upland range site cattle occasionally used mat muhly forage more than either blue grama or sand dropseed (Sporobolus cryptandrus). However mat muhly comprised less than 5% of the plant ground cover and was not considered a major portion of the cattle diet during any season of the year [23].

PALATABILITY:

In the northern part of its range, mat muhly is rated as good to very good forage for cattle and horses and fairly good for domestic sheep [40]. The palatability of mat muhly for livestock and wildlife species has been rated as follows [12]:

                        MT      ND      UT      WY

Cattle                 Good    Good    Fair    Fair
Domestic Sheep         Fair    Good    Fair    Fair
Horses                 Fair    Good    Fair    Fair
Pronghorn              ----    ----    Fair    ----
Elk                    ----    ----    Fair    ----
Mule deer              ----    ----    Poor    ----
Small mammals          ----    ----    Fair    ----
Small nongame birds    ----    ----    Fair    ----
Upland game birds      ----    ----    Poor    ----
Waterfowl              ----    ----    Poor    ----

NUTRITIONAL VALUE:

Mat muhly is rated fair in energy value and poor in protein value [12].

COVER VALUE:

The degree to which mat muhly provides cover for wildlife species in Utah has been rated as follows [12]:

Small mammals         Fair
Small nongame birds   Fair
Upland game birds     Poor
Waterfowl             Poor

VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES:

No entry

OTHER USES AND VALUES:

Mat muhly is valuable as a soil binder [40].

MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS:

Mat muhly withstands heavy grazing because of its sod-forming habit [40].

Related categories for SPECIES: Muhlenbergia richardsonis | Mat Muhly