Stranahan Arboretum 419 8411007

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Stranahan Arboretum(419) 841-1007
2004 Maple Sugaring FestivalVolunteer
Opportunities

• Public Education
• How do trees draw water uphill?
• How do seasons affect trees?
• Pioneer Exhibits
• Storytelling
• Log cutting
• Whirligigs and thaumatropes
• Crafts

Susan Transtran_at_utnet.utoledo.edu
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• FREE LUNCH OPEN HOUSE
• Friday, March 19, 2004
• 1130am-130pm
• BO 3043

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Grasses
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The planting of cereal grains may have been the
most important event in the beginning of
civilization

• 10,000 years ago, someone had the idea of
  planting seeds, carrying for the plants and
  harvesting them months later
  
• Hunting and gathering societies
• Become agrarian

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Theories

• Plant seeds to make life easier
• Growth in human population
• Hunter-gatherer 50 acres per person
• Farmer 1 acre
• Farming started in areas where food was
  relatively abundant all year long
  
• Fertile Crescent southern part of Turkey, along
  the border of Iran and Iraq
  

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What is a grass?

• Grasses are monocots and thus have
  parallel-veined leaves and flower parts which
  occur in multiples of three
  
• Perennial or annual herbs, stems erect,
  ascending, prostrate or creeping, round, hollow
  or solid at internodes, solid at nodes
  
• Leaves - 2-ranked, alternate, composed of an open
  sheath, ligule and blade, sheath encloses the
  stem
  
• Flowers spikelets contain 1, 2, or more florets
  usually subtended by glumes

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Taxonomic classification
http//home.manhattan.edu/frances.cardillo/plants
/intro/test.html
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grass family (Poaceae)

• Genera 600 - 650
• Species 7500 - 10,000
• cereal crops
• grazing crops
• ornamentals
• building materials
• source for matting

http//wisplants.uwsp.edu/scripts/Familygenera.asp
?FamilyPoaceae
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Cereal Crops

• Wheat
• Barley
• Oats
• Maize or corn
• rice

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wheat
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Types of wheat

• Bread wheat
• This has a high gluten content and hard grain. It
  is used to make flour from which bread is made. 
  
  
• Other products of Bread wheat are semolina,
  kitchen flour and breakfast cereals.
  
• Durum wheat
• unsuitable for bread making but is used to make
  pasta

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Making flour

• Whole-grain
• White flour
• 83 percent of the nutrients are removed
• Bleaching of flour
• Milling
• Stone-milling prevents oxidization
• Hammer mills

http//www.outpostcoop.com/brochures.html
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Corn or maize

• common name for the staple of life
• grown for food and livestock fodder
• played a major religious and ritual role in the
  lives of ancient peoples of Central and South
  America
  
• each continent has its specific cereal
• wheat Europe, north-central Asia
• corn America
• durra or sorghum Africa
• rice Southeastern Asia

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Maize Gift from America's First Peoples

• Columbus did not realize that the gift of maize
  was far more valuable than the spices or gold he
  hoped to find. He had no way of knowing that the
  history of maize traced back some 8,000 years or
  that it represented the most remarkable plant
  breeding accomplishment of all time. He might
  have been embarrassed if he had understood that
  then, as now, this plant developed by peoples he
  judged poor and uncivilized far outstripped in
  productivity any of the cereals bred by Old World
  farmers --wheat, rice, sorghum, barley, and rye.
  Were he alive today, he would certainly be
  astonished to see the extent to which the advent
  of maize has affected land use, food production,
  cuisine, and population growth around the world.
• Walton Galinat, 1992, "Chillies to Chocolate"

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Corn facts

• United States is the largest producer of corn in
  the world. In 1997, US planted 80,227,000 acres.
  
• 64 of the maize produced in the world is used as
  animal feed
  
• 5 major categories, mainly the dents, flints,
  floury, pop, and sweet corn.
  
• all of maize production is based on 5 of corn
  varieties available in the world

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Amazing Maize Maze

• http//www.americanmaze.com/

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History of Corn

• The primitive corn plant differs greatly from the
  modern strains of domesticated corn. The size of
  the primitive cob is quite reduced, as is the
  total number of corn kernels on the cob. Modern
  agricultural techniques have helped increase the
  size and yield of corn plants.

http//www.nativetech.org/cornhusk/cornhusk.html
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Corn Smut

• corn smut is a parasitic fungus that attacks the
  ears, stalks, and tassels of corn. Large,
  unsightly mycelial, or fungal, masses develop
  that eventually produce large quantities of black
  spores. Occasionally smut galls or swellings are
  produced, which are used as food in some areas of
  Central and South America.

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History of Breakfast cereal

• The first modern and commercial cereal foods were
  created by the American Seventh-day Adventists.
  Strict vegetarian, the Adventists formed the
  Western Health Reform Institute in the 1860s. The
  Institute was later renamed the Battle Creek
  Sanitarium after its location in Battle Creek,
  Michigan. The Adventists manufactured, promoted,
  and sold wholesome cereals.

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Keith Kellogg

• In 1894, Kellogg was trying to improve the
  vegetarian diet of hospital patients. He was
  searching for a digestible bread substitute using
  the process of boiling wheat.
• Kellogg accidentally left a pot of boiled wheat
  to stand and the wheat became tempered. When
  Kellogg rolled the tempered wheat, each grain of
  wheat emerged as a large thin flake.
• The flakes turned out to be a tasty cereal.
  Kellogg had invented corn flakes.
  
• Kellogg received his M.D. from Bellevue Hospital
  Medical College, New York City, in 1875. He was a
  Seventh-day Adventist and therefore a vegetarian

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Rice
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Rice

• White rice husk, bran, and germ removed
• Long-grain rice is four to five times longer than
  it is wide
  
• aromatic rices, i.e., basmati and jasmine
  varieties
  
• Medium-grain rice has shorter, fatter grains and
  a medium starch content
  
• Short-grain rice plump, almost round, high
  starch
  
• easy to handle with chopsticks
• Brown rice
• Only the inedible outer husk has been removed

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Introduction to Range Management

• general range types within the United states
• Tall grass prairie
  
  
• Mixed grass prairie
• Short grass prairie
• Pacific North West bunchgrass
• California / Arizona Chaparral
• Salt desert shrub
• Semi desert shrub
• Desert shrub
• Oak savanna grassland
• Ponderosa Pine grassland

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• Short, Mixed and Tall grass prairie

Over 90 of the tall grass prairie have been
converted to crop land Mixed grass prairie mix
ture of crop and range land Short grass prairie
limited amount of crop land majority is still
considered range land
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Remnant patch of tall grass prairie
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Over 90 is still considered range land
Produces most of the beef produced in the Unit
ed States Grasses are adapted for heavy grazing
1) hidden meristems meristems 2) evolved wit
h large grazing ungulates 3) 75 of biomass is l
ocated belowground
Short grass prairie
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Mixed grass land has both tall grass and short
grass species The ratio between short grass an
d mixed is dependent on moisture
Typically more growing season moisture produces
a greater amount of tall grass species
The boundary between short-mixed-tall grass prai
rie is constantly moving Framing is either boo
m or bust (typically to dry for crop land)
Mixed grassland prairie
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Pacific North West (PNW) grassland

• Unique grassland comprised of bunch forming
  grasses
  
• Majority of the PNW bunchgrass has been converted
  to cropland
  
• PNW are not adapted for heavy livestock grazing
• Meristems are easily removed by grazing

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California Annual grassland
California grassland historically resembled the
PNW bunch grass region Early settlers transport
ed non-native grass species from there home land
California grassland region was undergoing cha
nges before settlers due to the rise of the
costal range and the Sierra Nevadas
Today no bunch grass plants remain
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Salt desert shrub
Unique range land characterized by high soil salt
levels caused by poor water drainage.
Only a few species are able to tolerate the grow
ing conditions. Adaptations Some plants are a
ble to secrete salt through special glands on
their leaves
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Historically Pinyon juniper was confined to ridge
tops Fire suppression has allowed the Pinyon j
uniper to move into the desert grass land below
Pinyon juniper reduces the amount of forage avai
lable for grazing animals Reduction in ground
cover increase runoff and soil erosion
Pinyon juniper
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1960 1970 land managers removed vast areas of
pinyon juniper by tying cable or chain to two D-9
cats Chaining adequately removed the mature trees
however it was unsuccessful at removing saplings
therefore it required a post treatment (burn)
Late 1970s laws changed the ways public agencie
s managed federal lands Presently it would be v
irtually impossible to chain pinyon juniper
Pinyon juniper removal technique
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California Chaparral
Fire prone region Poor livestock production
Burning reduces chaparral and the area resembles
a annual grass land for a few years

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History of Range management

• Prior to 1936 Free for all on public land
• 1936 Taylor grazing act was signed
• Only allowed permitted users to graze federal
  lands. Grazing strategy was season long grazing
  
• 1970s Grazing strategies started to change into
  rotational pastures
  
• 1990 Management changed from upland to riparian
  areas
  

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Rotation grazing divides the the allotment into
small pastures Each pasture is grazed once dur
ing a growing season The order of grazing chan
ges first year second year third year
A B C B C A C A B
Rotation grazing allows for greater control over
livestock the season long grazing
Why have rotation grazing?
Rotation grazing systems
A
B
C
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Historical movement of cheat grass

• How does cheat grass spread?
• Cheat grass is a winter annual (jump start on
  growth)
  
• Dies early in the year
• Wildlife and livestock only graze it during the
  early season
  
• Some ranchers planted it thinking they could get
  an early season of grass production
  
• Thrives in disturbed sites

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Cheat grass facilitates fire

• Why is it a problem?
• Cheat grass can out compete higher quality native
  grasses
  
• 2) Cheat grass fills in the interspaces between
  native vegetation creating a continuous fine fuel
  load
  
• 3) Cheat grass promotes fire and allows fires
  to start earlier in the season . The increase in
  fire frequency and the increased fire season
  creates a condition that stresses the native
  vegetation

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Crested Wheat Grass
Non-native grass widely planted in the 1940-1950
to promote livestock production and soil
stabilization Two varieties Agropyron cristat
um cristatum Agropyron cristatum desertorum c
ristatum is highly palatable desertorm is modera
tely palatable
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Crested wheatgrass range
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• Kentucky bluegrass is a nonnative species.
• Sod grass- can create a monoculture
• out competes native grasses
• Location of meristems allow the grass to be
  grazed to less than an inch
  
• Why is this a problem?
• Low rooting depth causes problems with soil
  stability
  
• Has the ability to out competes native grasses
• Very attractive to cattle and elk during from
  spring to fall

Kentucky bluegrass
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Cattle grazing creates disturbed areas where
Kentucky bluegrass can out compete native
riparian vegetation Low rooting structure of Ke
ntucky Blue grass facilitates bank sloughing
Bank sloughing increases the disturbed area that
in turn increase area infected with Kentucky
bluegrass Positive feedback loop
Bank sloughing causes Increased water temperatu
re Increased sedimentation Reduction in water
depth

Vegetation shift
All of which have an effect on fisheries and mic
ro invertebrates

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Riparian Buffer Example
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Intensive efforts to exclude livestock from
riparian areas

• Fencing
• Salting
• Off site water
• Riding

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Some times the best intentions fail