Climatic effects on buffelgrass productivity in the Sonoran Desert

Abstract

Buffelgrass (Cenchrus cilaris L.), a perennial bunchgrass from northcentral Kenya has been successfully seeded on 400,000 ha in northwest Mexico. To determine if carrying capacity increased after buffelgrass introduction we measured live, recent-dead standing, old-dead standing and litter at 2-week intervals for three years. Live biomass was produced throughout the year but peak production, over the 3 years was in August. Peak live biomass production varied from 46S kg/ha in a summer of below-average precipitation to 3,045 kg/ha in a summer of above-average precipitation. Recent- and old-dead standing quantities were highly variable among years and transfers among components were dependent on temperature and precipitation. Buffelgrass annually produces about 3 times more green forage than native grasses.