VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Schizachyrium scoparium | Little Bluestem 



WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE : 
Little bluestem provides food and cover for livestock and wildlife
species.  It is an important component of upland hay, which is of good
quality if cut early [71,128,142].  Yields of little bluestem are lower
than associated grasses, such as switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), sand
bluestem (Andropogon gerardii var. paucipilus), big bluestem (Andropogon
gerardii var. gerardii), side-oats grama (Bouteloua curtipendula), and
crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum), but forage production remains
constant, showing little or no decline from year to year even under
drought conditions [55,115,154].  Stands dominated by little bluestem in
the Red River Valley of Minnesota, North Dakota, and Manitoba varied in
yield along a north-south gradient; stands in the northern Red River
Valley produced an average of 2,197 pounds per acre (2,462 kg/ha) of
forage, those from the central valley produced 3,355 pounds per acre
(3,760 kg/ha), while southern stands produced 4,210 pounds per acre
(4,719 kg/ha) of forage [115].  On the Limestone Prairie of Texas, good
condition range sites composed of 30 percent little bluestem, 25 percent
side-oats grama, and 20 percent tall dropseed (Sporobolus asper)
normally produce 2,500 to 3,300 pounds per acre (2,802-3,699 kg/ha) of
air dry herbage [118].  Excellent condition sites in the same area
composed of 40 percent little bluestem, 25 percent side-oats grama, and
10 percent indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans) normally produce 3,500 to
4,000 pounds per acre (3,923-4,483 kg/ha) of air dry herbage.

Little bluestem seeds are of particular value as a food source for small
birds which spend the winter on grasslands.  The seeds are also eaten by
upland game birds, such as prairie chickens and sharp-tailed grouse
[76].


PALATABILITY : 
Little bluestem is highly palatable to most classes of livestock during
the plant's early growth period.  The seed stalks, which appear by
midsummer, are generally avoided by livestock, but animals continue to
graze basal leaves until plants reach maturity [64,98,133].  Mature
plants are not heavily grazed.  During the fall and winter months plants
are grazed only after more palatable species have been utilized
[53,68,127,144].  In southern latitudes, utilization may not be limited
by season.  Dyksterhuis [41] reported that cattle consume little
bluestem year-round in Texas. The mild climate allowed the plant to
remain active throughout the year.  There were some bluish-green new
shoots around the edges and in the interior where they were protected by
old foliage.  As the season advanced, cattle selectively consumed only
the green leaves from the dense interior.  In September, on lightly
grazed ranges in Texas, cattle were observed feeding almost exclusively
on immature inflorescences [41].

The degree of use shown by livestock and wildlife species for little
bluestem is as follows [18,37,49,74,127,143,160]:

              CO    KS    MT    ND    OK    SD    TX    UT    WY 
Cattle       good  good  fair  fair  ----  good  good  good  good
Sheep        good  ----  fair  fair  good  ----  good  poor  fair
Horses       good  ----  good  good  ----  ----  ----  good  good
Pronghorn    ----  fair  poor  poor  ----  ----  good  fair  ----
Elk          ----  ----  fair  ----  ----  good  ----  ----  ---- 
Mule deer    ----  fair  poor  poor  ----  ----  ----  fair  ----
W.T. deer    ----  fair  poor  poor  ----  ----  ----  ----  ----
sm. mammals  ----  good  ----  ----  ----  ----  ----  fair  ----
sm. nongame
 birds       ----  fair  ----  ----  ----  ----  ----  ----  ----
Upland game
 birds       ----  ----  ----  ----  ----  ----  ----  poor  ----
Waterfowl    ----  ----  ----  fair  ----  ----  ----  poor  ----  


NUTRITIONAL VALUE : 
As with many warm-season grasses, the stage of maturity greatly
influences the nutrititive value of little bluestem.  During spring and
summer, this grass provides medium- to high-quality forage, but as the
season advances, protein and phosphorous levels drop significantly and
become deficient by midsummer [60,124,154].  In Oklahoma, nitrogen,
potassium, and phosphorous levels in green tissue peaked in spring and
then dropped to their lowest levels in summer, closely paralleling
decreased soil moisture [113.  Little bluestem forage in Oklahoma showed
the following changes in its nutritive content with season of growth
[124].

             %Crude Protein   %Fat   %Crude Fiber   %Phos     %Calc
April-June        12           2.8       31.5        .31       .41
July-Sept          4           2.5       39          .14       .32
Oct-Dec            3           2.5       39          .12       .30
Jan-March          2.5         2.0       38          .06       .24

Little bluestem is not as nutritious as associated species such as sand
bluestem, crested wheatgrass, prairie sandreed (Calamovilfia
longifolia), side-oats grama (Bouteloua curtipendula), and blue grama
(Bouteloua gracilis) [70,102,154].  Protein content of little bluestem
is only about one-half that of blue grama at the same stage of growth
[68].  In vitro dry matter digestion (IVDMD) is low by midsummer, with
levels between 52 percent and 58 percent often reported [20,70,102,154].

Little bluestem should be cut for hay in early to midsummer, before
nutritive quality becomes deficient.  Cutting no later than the late
bloom stage is recommended in Arizona [68].  Cutting should take place
from July 1 to July 15 in Kansas [71,110]. Although only 75 percent of
bluestem growth would occur by this time, resulting in a 25 percent
reduction of forage yields compared to later harvests, nutritive quality
would be higher.


COVER VALUE : 
Little bluestem provides excellent nesting habitat and cover for upland
game birds [24,55,76,105,122,128].  In Missouri, little bluestem and
associated species (big bluestem and switchgrass), due to their
bunch-type growth habit, provide optimum shelter for nesting prairie
chickens [24].  In Oklahoma and Nebraska, little bluestem is one of the
principal grasses in which prairie chickens and sharp-tailed grouse nest
[76,128].  Seeding little bluestem in mixture with other warm-season
grasses is recommended to provide cover for prairie chickens and quail
[17], and for dabbling ducks in the prairie pothole region [40,80].  The
degree to which little bluestem provides environmental protection for
other wildlife species has been rated as follows [17,37,76,91,108]:

                      KS     MT     ND     OK     TX     UT     WY  
Pronghorn            ----   ----   fair   ----   ----   poor   poor
Elk                  ----   ----   ----   ----   ----   poor   poor
Mule deer            ----   ----   fair   ----   ----   poor   poor
White-tailed deer    ----   ----   poor   ----   ----   ----   poor
Small mammals        ----   fair   good   ----   ----   good   fair
Small nongame birds  good   fair   good   ----   ----   fair   fair
Upland game birds    good   good   good   good   good   fair   fair
Waterfowl            ----   fair   fair   ----   ----   poor   poor 


VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES : 
Little bluestem has been used extensively in prairie restoration
projects [9,128] and to establish prairie vegetation along highways
[29,103].  Little bluestem has been used successfully to reclaim mine
spoils in Montana where competition with other grass seedlings at the
time of seedling establishment and organic matter content of the spoil
were key factors affecting establishment of warm-season grasses [121].
Little bluestem performed best when spoils were covered with 8 inches
(20 cm) of topsoil.  On mined lands in the arid Southwest, establishing
test plots to see if plants will grow under local conditions is
recommended.  On arid sites irrigation increases the probability of
establishment of seeded grasses, so that seeding rates may be reduced by
50 percent [104].  In the Central Great Plains, McGuinnes and Hassell
[92] recommend seeding in stubble to reduce wind erosion and the
evaporation of moisture from the soil surface.  Further guidelines for
cultivar selection, seeding rates, and planting procedures are available
in the literature [35,117,152].

Little bluestem cultivars available for use in revegetating disturbed
areas and for range seeding are described below [73,92,101,102].
  
'Aldous' -- Originates from the Flint Hills of Kansas.  Recommended for
            seeding in Kansas and Nebraska.  Characteristics include
            moderately late maturity, leafiness, and rust resistance.

'Blaze' -- Originates from Nebraska.  Recommended for range seeding,
           critical area stabilization, and native landscaping in Kansas
           and Nebraska.  This is a bright green to dull green
           late-maturing cultivar.

'Camper' -- Originates from Nebraska and recommended for use there.  It
            is relatively late maturing. 

'Cimarron' -- Originates from seed collected from western Kansas,
              southeast Colorado, northeast New Mexico, and the Oklahoma
              panhandle.  

'Pastura' -- Originates near Rowe and Pacos, New Mexico.  Suited for
             range plantings in light- to medium-textured soils in the
             foothills and plains of central and eastern New Mexico and
             eastern Colorado.


OTHER USES AND VALUES : 
Little bluestem and other native grasses and forbs have been used to
develop small prairie plantings for use in residential landscaping.  In
these small plantings, plants are seeded in mixtures to approximate the
temporal and physical structure of regional native prairie communities
[36].


MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Little bluestem is an indicator of range in good condition.  In the true
prairie, where it occurs with tall warm-season grasses, it is an
increaser [74,133]; farther west it is considered a decreaser [64].
Little bluestem tends to decrease under spring-summer grazing and
increase under fall-winter grazing [133,144].  Heavy grazing tends to
reduce vigor and abundance, allowing grama (Bouteloua spp.) grasses to
replace it [53,77,139].  Continuous and deferred rotation grazing
systems have both been used effectively [87].  In Kansas, vigorous
stands were maintained from season to season with continuous, moderate
grazing which left 40 to 60 percent of the current year's growth
ungrazed at the end of the season [87].  In Montana, stands will persist
for many years if 2 to 5 inches (5-13 cm) of stubble are left for
regrowth at the end of the grazing season.

In the tall-grass prairie of Kansas, intensive-early stocking, with
twice the recommended stocking density for the first half of the growing
season and no grazing during the second half of the season, allows
little bluestem forage to regrow and replenish carbogydrate reserves.
This system results in higher animal gains per acre without sacrificing
individual animal performance [111]

Related categories for Species: Schizachyrium scoparium | Little Bluestem