SASKATOON — Home-grown isn’t always better than imported plants, says an Agriculture Canada research scientist from Melfort.
“There are expectations that native plants are inherently better because they are native,” Scott Wright told a group of forage producers.
He said people think of the native grass that evolved on the Prairies as good and wholesome. With that come beliefs native plants will need less management and produce better than imported grass species.
“There’s an ecological push to stay with the native materials,” Wright said.
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The “dreaded exotics” aren’t from another planet, but have evolved because of a need for higher yields and greater productivity.
“It’s not whether they’re native or tame which makes them better, but if they’re used for what they’re best suited,” said Wright.
Many native grass species have poor seedling vigor, low seed yields and compete badly against weeds. Compared to tame grass species, they are of little economic importance, Wright said.
Between 1991 and 1993 the native grass acreage inspected for pedigreed seed production in Saskatchewan increased by 70 percent to a total of 778 acres. In 1991 there were 95,584 acres of tame seed production.
According to Statistics Canada there were 206,433 hectares (510,108 acres) of forage crop for seed in Canada in 1991.
Used for reclamation projects
The single largest user of native grass seed is the conservation organization Ducks Unlimited. In Canada it uses almost 100,000 pounds of native grass seed each year for reclamation projects.
“It just makes sense to us that locally grown native species will not only be the best suited, but possibly the only ones adapted for revegetating an area when viewed over a long time span,” said Phil Curry of Ducks Unlimited.
Curry understands that many of the native plants have evolved in their specific area and don’t transplant well to other locations. Ducks Unlimited’s primary criterion for selecting seed mixtures has been their availability. Other considerations are adaptability and habitat suitability.
Realizing that differences occur in plant communities and individual locations, Ducks Unlimited is hoping to design seeding mixtures that resemble the natural composition.
The organization uses the same arguments as Wright. The first question it asks is if the plant is ecologically suited to the area and what it will be used for.
