VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Elaeagnus commutata | Silverberry 



WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE : 
Silverberry is an important food for wildlife, particularly moose.
Moose in Wyoming and Montana browse it; it constitutes 26.6 percent of
moose winter diets in the Gravelly Mountains of Montana [22,35].
Silverberry is eaten by mule deer and bighorn sheep in Alberta, Canada
[59].

Silverberry provides nesting cover for mallards and many species of
passerine birds in mixed-grass prairie of North Dakota [3,13].  In
mature white spruce forests of the Yukon Territory, silverberry provides
important habitat for snowshoe hares [18].


PALATABILITY : 
Silverberry is highly palatable to moose in Wyoming and Montana [22,35].
It is not so palatable to livestock; in Montana its palabtability is
rated poor for cattle and horses and fair for sheep [11].


NUTRITIONAL VALUE : 
In Montana, silverberry food value is rated good for elk, poor for mule
deer and white-tailed deer, and fair for pronghorn, upland game birds,
small nongame birds, small mammals, and waterfowl.  Energy value and
protein content are rated fair [11].  


COVER VALUE : 
Silverberry provides fair environmental protection for elk, mule deer,
white-tailed deer, small mammals, small nongame birds, upland game
birds, and waterfowl in Montana [11].
  


VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES : 
Silverberry adapts well to disturbed sites.  It is used for
rehabilitating mine spoils in British Columbia and Alberta [23,57,59].
Its rhizomes help prevent soil erosion.  At Fort McMurray, Alberta,
silverberry spread rapidly on amended tailings sand.  Survival remained
high after 7 years, and rhizomatous reproduction was vigorous [59].

Preinoculation of silverberry with mycorrhizal and nitrogen-fixing
symbionts may result in more rapid revegetation of oil sands tailings
[14].  In British Columbia, inoculated silverberry seedlings outplanted
on oil sands tailings had a lower survival rate than uninoculated
plants; however, inoculated survivors were larger and had more nodules.
Inoculated silverberry seedlings in northeast British Columbia had a 60
percent survival rate when transplanted to sandy soil on a steep,
unstable slope [59].


OTHER USES AND VALUES : 
In the Fort Yukon region of Alaska, native Gwich'in Athabaskan and
Caucasian residents use the pits of silverberry fruits as beads for
necklaces [29,51].  The fruit is cooked in moose fat and eaten by some
natives of Alaska [31].  


MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Silverberry is an increaser species on overgrazed cattle rangelands, but
frequent sheep browsing or mowing reduce silverberry cover [3].
Silverberry spreads rapidly and maintains cover by means of rhizomes
[4,33,59].  In rough fescue grasslands of Alberta and Saskatchewan,
silverberry was a minor component 20 years ago, but is now widely
distributed [4].  In rough fescue grasslands, silverberry at 1,000 stems
per acre increases forage production.  Silverberry interferes with
utilization of forage by cattle; thus, more herbage is found under
shrubs than between them on grazed lands.  Rough fescue and porcupine
grass yielded twice as much herbage under silverberry shrubs than
between them, and their leaves were twice as long [4]. 

Silverberry fixes nitrogen [59]; this nitrogen may be available to other
species of plants growing nearby.  According to Bailey [5] and Watson
[59], nonmycorrhizal plants grown with nodulated plants such as
silverberry are more likely to be taller, show higher amounts of
nitrogen in leaves and litter, and have a greater quantity of nitrogen
in aboveground parts than plants grown away from silverberry.

Land management practices which modify shrub cover can alter the
composition of passerine bird communities in mixed-grass prairie of
North Dakota.  Many bird species are not attracted to mixed-grass
prairie with reduced cover of silverberry [3].

Silverberry was sensitive to foliar injury after a sulphur fire in a
sanitary landfill in Alberta [28].  

Silverberry is susceptible to leaf spot, leaf rust, dieback, and root
rot [59].

 

Related categories for Species: Elaeagnus commutata | Silverberry