UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



BULLETIN No. 981 



Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry 

 WM. A. TAYLOR, Chief 



J&r^'j'i. 



Washington, D. C. 



PROFESSIONAL PAPER 



December 21, 1921 



SUDAN GRASS AND RELATED PLANTS. 



By H. N. Vinall, Agronomist, and R. E. Getty, Assistant Agrostologist, 

 Office of Forage- Crop Investigations. 



CONTENTS. 



Introduction into the United States 1 



Description and botanical relationships 3 



Distribution and importance of Sudan grass 



in Africa 1G 



Sudan grass in other countries 17 



Soil relations 17 



Climatic adaptations 18 



Relative importance of the crop 21 



Hay production 26 



Date of seeding 27 



Method of seeding 28 



Page. 



Rate of seeding 33 



Harvesting 34 



Sudan grass and legume mixtures 37 



Utilization of Sudan grass 41 



Seed production 52 



Diseases of Sudan grass 63 



Insect enemies of Sudan grass 63 



Weeds 64 



Summary 64 



Literature cited 67 



INTRODUCTION INTO THE UNITED STATES. 



Sudan grass was introduced into the United States from Africa 

 in 1909, through the efforts of C. V. Piper, Agrostologist in Charge 

 of the Office of Forage-Crop Investigations, Bureau of Plant Industry, 

 United States Department of Agriculture. Eight ounces of seed were 

 obtained in the original importation (fig. 1), and a portion of this 

 was planted that year at the forage-crop field station at Chillicothe, 

 Tex. 2 From this small beginning has come practically all of the 



1 Many of the data here recorded were contributed by the following members of the staff of the Office of 

 Forage-Crop Investigations, who personally conducted the experiments at the points indicated: R. W. 

 Edwards, at Chillicothe, Tex. (resigned Feb. 25, 1918); A. B. Cron, at Amarillo, Tex.; Roland McKee, at 

 Chico, Calif.; Samuel Garver, at Redfield, S. Dak.; and H. R. Reed, at Bard, Calif. Acknowledgment is 

 made of their assistance and of the cooperation of the agronomists of the State Agricultural Experiment 

 Stations and the superintendents of the field stations of the United States Department of Agriculture. 



2 The field station at C hill icothe) Tex., is maintained as a cooperative project in conjunction with the 

 Texas Agricultural Experiment Station. From its inception, in 1905, up to 1916 the expenses were borne 

 largely by the United States Department of Agriculture. In 1915, 100 acres of land 5 miles southwest of 

 Chillicothe were purchased by the State of Texas and designated "Texas Substation No. 12." The 

 cooperation between the Office of Forage-Crop Investigations of the United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture and the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station has been continued at the new location . The adminis- 

 tration of the station since January 1, 1916, has been in the hands of the Texas station, and the State of 

 Texas has made liberal financial contributions to support the work. 



53321°— 21— Bull. 981 1 



