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Conservation Of Waste Rice And Estimates Of Moist-Soil Seed Abundance For Wintering Waterfowl In The Mississippi Alluvial Valley

Waste rice in harvested fields and natural seeds in moist-soil wetlands are important foods for waterfowl in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley (MAV). Waste rice declines significantly between harvest and late autumn. I conducted experiments in 19 rice fields in Arkansas and Mississippi during autumns 2003 and 2004 to evaluate the ability of common post-harvest practices to conserve waste rice between harvest and late autumn. Greatest mean abundance of waste rice in late autumn occurred in standing stubble (x&95 = 105 kg/ha; CL = 72.84, 150.16 kg/ha) followed by burned (x&95 = 72 kg/ha; 49.57, 105.81 kg/ha), mowed (x&95 = 67 kg/ha; 46.65, 97.42 kg/ha), rolled (x&95 = 51 kg/ha; 35.54, 73.076 kg/ha), and disked stubble (x&95 = 48 kg/ha; 33.26, 68.41 kg/ha). I recommend leaving stubble or burning fields to create interspersion of stubble and water after flooding. Additionally, I estimated abundance of moist-soil seed in 72 management units on public lands throughout the MAV for autumns 2002-2004. Mean seed abundance was 496 kg/ha (SE = 62). I recommend increased active management of moist-soil wetlands to mitigate decreased availability of waste rice in the MAV.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:MSSTATE/oai:scholarsjunction.msstate.edu:td-2158
Date13 May 2006
CreatorsKross, Jennifer
PublisherScholars Junction
Source SetsMississippi State University
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
SourceTheses and Dissertations

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