Response of Western North Dakota Mixed Prairie to Intensive Clipping and Five Stages of Development

Abstract

The effects of clipping to a 2.54 cm (1 inch) height at 5 stages of development of western North Dakota mixed prairie were investigated. Soil moisture content at the beginning of the growing season had a greater effect on yields than did the clipping treatments. Observations from this two-year study indicate that soil moisture removal was not affected by the clipping treatments. Clipping significantly affected peak yields by needle-and-threadgrass (Stipa comata) and the Carex species during 1977; and the miscellaneous grasses (Agropyron smithii and Agropyron subsecundum) during 1978, at the sandy loam site. No significant differences in yields were observed for the other species and groups at the sandy loam site, or, the species and groups at the loam site for the two-year-period.