Potential of Pasture Grasses to Reduce Soil Runoff in Simulated Spring Seeding Applications

Reductions in vegetative cover caused by mismanagement of pastures in livestock grazing systems have been attributed as a source of sediment runoff largely resulting from overgrazing and compaction from high densities of livestock (Bilotta, Brazier, & Haygarth, 2007; Hubbard, Newton, & Hill, 2004). Exacerbating this problem in the Midwest are increasingly variable rainfalls, with spring rains over the past several decades becoming increasingly variable and precipitation events in the spring of over 2 inches increasing in frequency compared with historical data (Frankson et al., 2019). In an effort to mitigate sediment erosion, a myriad of best management practices (BMPs) have been promoted to minimize environmental effects of agricultural areas on surface waters such as increasing riparian area, building wetlands, controlling drainage, and incorporating additional vegetation or altering grazing intensity schedules (Butler, Ranells, Franklin, Poore, & Green, 2007; Fiorellino et al., 2014; Jacquemin, Johnson, Dirksen, & McGlinch, 2018). While past research focusing specifically on pasture has greatly contributed to our understanding of animal use and runoff dynamics in these systems, there is currently minimal laboratory-based research under controlled settings evaluating sediment losses following spring establishment by seed which is a critical time for soil health due to soil being bare of vegetation. Therefore, the objective of this study was to compare sediment losses of two pasture seeding treatments under simulated spring rainfall conditions.