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11 <br />IManagement <br />n <br />CI <br />0 <br />0 <br />E, <br />u <br />El <br />P <br />J <br />0 <br />Uses <br />M <br />Bromus mollis L. <br />In California <br />brome, Blando <br />BLANDO brome is an improved strain of soft chess which is widely distributed on the annual <br />rangeland in California. It is a reliable, intermediate strain of soft chess that was selected for its <br />consistent production of forage and seed, especially under adverse soil and variable climatic <br />conditions. BLANDO brome was cooperatively released by the Soil Conservation Service and the <br />California Agricultural Experiment Station in 1955. It is a winter growing, self- seeding, annual <br />grass. It has strong seedling vigor, is suberect in growth habit, medium early in maturity, and has an <br />outstanding reseeding ability. Its growth starts in the fall of the year and it matures in April and <br />May. <br />BLANDO brome is adapted to the Mediterranean climatic zone from sea level to approximately <br />3,000 feet (915m), and in areas with an annual rainfall above 10 inches (25cm). It grows well on low <br />fertility sites but responds exceptionally well to applications of nitrogen -phosphorus fertilizers. It <br />requires good drainage, is adapted on coarse to fine textured soils and does best on neutral or <br />slightly acid to mildly alkaline soils. <br />USES <br />Livestock - BLANDO brome is rated as one of the most important forage plants. It ranks highest of <br />the annual bromes in forage rating, producing excellent forage when young and is grazed heavily up <br />to the time of reaching maturity. Seed does not shatter readily and the plants are grazed extensively <br />during the summer with the livestock getting more nutriment than they would otherwise from the <br />dry stalks and leaves alone. <br />Erosion Control - The ease with which it can be established and its outstanding reseeding ability <br />contributes to its suitability for seeding natural or man made disturbed areas to protect them from <br />erosion ancI producing sediment. These include bare unvegetated slopes, such as: brush burn areas, <br />newly constructed roads, driveways, housing and industrial developments, gullies, drainageways, <br />ditch and channel banks, dikes, levees, dams, and reservoirs, and other types of construction on <br />sloping land. <br />U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, SOIL CONSERVATION SERVICE CALIFORNIA - 497 <br />