• 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:

Big galleta is considered a valuable forage plant for cattle and domestic sheep in the Mohave Desert [22]. Its coarse, rigid culms make it relatively resistant to heavy grazing and trampling [27,41].

Blackbrush communities in southern Nevada that contain a major big galleta component are heavily utilized by bighorn sheep and are referred to as 'preferred habitat' [5]. Big galleta is also a component of bighorn sheep habitat in the Harquahala Mountains of Arizona [29].

Mule deer in Arizona utilize trace amounts of big galleta [28].

PALATABILITY:

Big galleta has been referred to as 'highly palatable' to cattle and horses in California during growth periods following rains [42].

Palatability of big galleta for livestock and wildlife in Utah has been rated as follows [12]:

Cattle	good
Domestic sheep	fair
Horses	good
Pronghorn	fair
Elk	poor
Mule deer	fair
Small mammals	fair
Small nongame birds	fair
Upland game birds	fair
Waterfowl	poor

 

NUTRITIONAL VALUE:

Nutritional composition (%) of big galleta from the Harquahala Mountains, Arizona, was [44]:

 

Month	Dry matter	Protein	ADF*	NDF**	Lignin	Cellulose
Jan-Feb	86.12	86.12	3.35	49.79	71.48	8.91
Mar-Apr	31.79	58.49	5.69	45.42	74.49	9.04
May-Jun	33.76	73.44	4.22	46.07	71.35	8.13
Jul-Aug	30.52	71.09	5.95	44.65	71.54	7.96
Sep-Oct	32.05	57.52	5.32	45.02	70.73	7.71
Nov-Dec	38.27	66.26	3.43	52.15	77.12	8.94

	Solubles	Hemicellulose	Ether extract	Ash
Jan-Feb	28.53	21.69	1.49	7.24
Mar-Apr	25.51	29.32	1.92	7.60
May-Jun	28.65	25.29	2.13	7.03
Jul-Aug	28.46	26.89	3.16	8.87
Sep-Oct	29.27	25.87	1.84	9.64
Nov-Dec	22.89	24.97	0.93	7.46

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*acid detergent fiber
**non-acid detergent fiber

COVER VALUE:

Big galleta provides fair cover for small mammals and small nongame birds in Utah [12].

VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES:

Big galleta's clumped growth form stabilizes blowing sand [46]. It stabilizes sand dunes in the lower Colorado River Valley of the Sonoran Desert and in some Mohave Desert communities [50,51].

OTHER USES AND VALUES:

No entry

MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS:

No entry

Related categories for SPECIES: Pleuraphis rigida | Big Galleta