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r1TEXAS A&M
KINGSVILLE
Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute
700 University Boulevard, MSC 218
Kingsville, Texas 78363-8202
ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
Editor: Vanessa Garza
Non-Profit Org.
U.S. Postage Paid
Permit 77
Bryan, TX
printed on recycled paper
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Photo by Forrest Smith
Rio Grande clammyweed shows promise for dryland gamebird food plots in South Texas
doves, resulting in a low amount of
seed available for birds to forage
on during typical hunting periods.
Overall, we learned from
this pilot project. We plan to
implement a second trial in 2015
with a few minor changes. Based
on the first plantings, we will plant
only the 3 species that performed
best. We plan to seed each species
at the full planting rate to hopefully
help reduce the amount of annual
grass competition. Finally, we
will plant earlier in the year to take
advantage of available soil moisture
and hopefully better match seed
maturity to hunting season dates.
each location to varying degrees
depending on location and species.
The most successful species were
Zapata Germplasm Rio Grande
clammyweed, Balli Germplasm
prostrate bundleflower, and Oso
Germplasm hall's panicum. In
addition to drought, the major
problem in all of the food plots
was the competition with annual
grasses such as crabgrass. This
problem may have been caused
by low seeded plant density
which we suspect was product of
utilizing reduced planting rates
for each species in an effort to
ensure bare ground for doves to
feed on, and to decrease costs.
Another issue observed is that the
majority of the seed set occurred
during the split between the first
and second hunting seasons for
Tony Falk
coordinator
Natives and
is the research
for South Texas
Texas Natives Seeds.
Natives
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