VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Panicum virgatum | Switchgrass 



WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE : 
Switchgrass is an important livestock forage.  In managed stands, it is
used primarily for warm-season pasture and hay.  Its use as warm-season
pasture for cattle has increased in recent years in the Corn Belt.  In
this region, 60 to 70 percent of its growth occurs after June 1,
compared with cool-season grasses which make over 60 percent of their
growth before June 1.  Thus cattle weight gains are high when both
pasture types are used in a rotational grazing system [28].  In the
Southeast, switchgrass is primarily used for cattle pasture, and less
often cut for hay [48].  Because it is somewhat shade-tolerant, it is an
important forage of thinned-pinelands in the Southeast [34].

Switchgrass hay yields are high.  Two to four tons per acre (4.5-9 t/ha)
are not uncommon [14,48,72].

Switchgrass is generally unimportant in the diets of wild ungulates in
the West [20,45,46].  In the Southeast, white-tailed deer paw up and eat
the rhizomes when winter food is scarce [34].

For ducks, upland game birds, songbirds, and small mammals, switchgrass
provides excellent cover and the seeds are an important food source
[56,68].


PALATABILITY : 
Switchgrass is palatable to cattle, horses, and sheep during the spring
and early summer before the leaves become coarse and tough.  By
midsummer, when the seedheads begin to mature, nutrient content and
palatability decline rapidly; by late summer palatability is low
[14,67].


NUTRITIONAL VALUE : 
Switchgrass in early growth stages is nutritious.  After seedheads
emerge, however, nutritive value declines rapidly, and the plant
provides only the minimum maintenance energy needs of ruminants [35].
For example, crude protein and in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD)
of Kansas and Nebraska switchgrass strains grown in Nebraska averaged
17.5 and 68.6 percent in early June, 11.4 and 59.8 percent in late June;
and 8.4 and 51.0 percent in mid-July, respectively [55].  In
Pennsylvania, leaf crude protein and IVDMD of the the switchgrass
cultivar 'Blackwell' was 10.2 and 66.1 percent in late June; 8.9 and
60.7 in mid-July; and 8.3 and 57.7 in early August, respectively [35].
On the Texas High Plains, switchgrass crude protein content was highest
shortly after spring growth began in May, averaging 18.4 percent, but
dropped to under 8.9 percent beginning in June [71].

To provide the optimum combination of forage production and nutritional
quality, switchgrass hay should be harvested about the time the panicles
are beginning to emerge from the boot [72].  Switchgrass hay harvested
at this time averages 50 to 60 percent in vitro dry matter digestibility
(IVDMD) and 8 to 10 percent crude protein [72].

In Nebraska, crude protein content of switchgrass is higher than that of
sand bluestem (Andropogon gerardii var. paucipilus) and big bluestem
[54].


COVER VALUE : 
Switchgrass's tall, vigorous, erect growth form which remains standing
throughout the winter, provides excellent protective and concealment
cover for upland game birds and ducks.  These birds use switchgrass
cover for loafing, night roosting, escape from predators, protection
from blizzards, and nesting [65].  When compared with a number of
warm-season grasses and alfalfa (Medicago sativa) in Iowa, ring-necked
pheasant nest density and hatch success were highest in switchgrass
stands [30].  Other birds which successfully nested in switchgrass in
Iowa included the northern bobwhite, mourning dove, and several
passerine species [29].  On the Sheyenne National Grasslands, North
Dakota, switchgrass-dominated sites are preferred nesting areas of the
greater prairie-chicken and sharp-tailed grouse [51].

Switchgrass can be planted to provide wildlife cover; however, large,
continuous monotypes are not recommended.  The maximum size of a planted
stand should be about 40 acres (16 ha) [65].  In western Minnesota and
the eastern Dakotas, switchgrass is recommended for planting along pond
margins to provide duck nesting cover on areas where native vegetation
has been destroyed by farming [21].


VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES : 
Switchgrass is used for a variety of revegetation and erosion control
purposes.  In the East, it is seeded alone or in mixture with other
native grasses on mine spoils where it typically requires 2 to 4 years
to develop a good ground cover [73].  Once established on graded and
contoured strip-mined lands in Kentucky, switchgrass can be used as
warm-season pasture or hayland [44].  In Iowa, it is seeded along rural
roadsides to provide erosion control and wildlife habitat [23].  It is
also commonly planted along waterways to provide erosion control and in
mixture with other native grasses for prairie restoration [67,74].

Switchgrass is popular for revegetation programs because the seed of
numerous cultivars is readily available, and stand establishment is
relatively easy [68].  The smooth seed should be planted with a drill to
a depth of 0.25 to 0.5 inch (0.6-1.2 cm) at a rate of three to six pure
live seeds per acre (3.4-6.7 kg/ha) [72].  Atrazine applied as a
preemergent herbicide effectively controls weeds and improves
switchgrass stand establishment [65,72].


OTHER USES AND VALUES : 
NO-ENTRY


MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Because of early elevation of shoot apical meristems and a high ratio of
reproductive to vegetative culms, switchgrass is relatively intolerant
of grazing and is a decreaser [9,74].  Of numerous warm-season grasses
studied in Oklahoma, swithcgrass was the most susceptible to damage from
clipping [61].  Switchgrass is tolerant of winter grazing but is
unpalatable at that time [67].

Related categories for Species: Panicum virgatum | Switchgrass