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From lonrom@hevanet.com Thu Jun 24 15:39:19 1999Date: Thu, 24 Jun 1999 07:41:19 -0700From: Lon J. Rombough To: SANET , AGRISYNERGY Subject: FW: Chicory Is a Biological Plow and Sponge, All in One

----------From: "ARS News Service" To: "ARS News List" Subject: Chicory Is a Biological Plow and Sponge, All in OneDate: Thu, Jun 24, 1999, 6:48 AM

STORY LEAD:Chicory Is a Biological Plow and Sponge, All in One

-----------ARS News ServiceAgricultural Research Service, USDADon Comis, (301) 504-1625, dcomis@asrr.arsusda.govJune 24, 1999-----------

Chicory, a hardy plant that can survive the sidewalk jungle, may be just thething for pastoral rigors as well, according to a scientist with theAgricultural Research Service, USDA's chief scientific wing.

With its carrot-like taproot, chicory can plow its way down to great depthsthrough hard, marginal soils--and even cracks in a sidewalk. In a pasture,it relentlessly recycles excess soil nitrogen into protein for livestockbefore the nitrogen can pollute groundwater. The deep rooting could alsoexplain how chicory stays green and leafy in hot, dry summers--to keepfeeding sheep and cattle after most pasture plants have stopped growing.

Chicory's nitrogen appetite seems endless. ARS agronomist David P. Belesky

found that this biological sponge can soak it up even at commercialfertilizer rates as high as 425 pounds an acre.

At ARS' Appalachian Farming Systems Research Center in Beaver, W.Va.,Belesky and colleagues have been testing three varieties--Grasslands Puna,Forage Feast and Lacerta--on Appalachian pastures for the past four years.

Now they're checking the plant's appetite for nitrogen, phosphorus and othernutrients in composted turkey litter cleaned from turkey houses. It couldbecome the preferred fertilizer for pastures in West Virginia, because it isinexpensive and readily available from nearby turkey farms. British UnitedTurkeys of America, a turkey-production firm with breeding operations insouthern West Virginia, is helping with the tests.

Belesky and colleagues are testing the chicory in a pasture mix oforchardgrass and white clover. They want to see whether the deep-rootingchicory and orchardgrass can soak up any nitrogen and water missed by theshallow-rooting clover. A story about the research appears in the Juneissue of ARS' Agricultural Research magazine and on the web at:

http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/jun99/turk0699.htm

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Scientific contact: David P. Belesky, ARS Appalachian Farming SystemsResearch Center, 1224 Airport Rd., Beaver, WV 25813-9423; phone (304)256-2841, fax (304) 256-2921, dbelesky@asrr.arsusda.gov.----------This item is one of the news releases and story leads that ARS Informationdistributes on weekdays to fax and e-mail subscribers. You can also get thelatest ARS news on the World Wide Web athttp://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/thelatest.htm.* Feedback and questions to ARS News Service via e-mail: isnv@ars-grin.gov.* ARS Information Staff, 5601 Sunnyside Ave., Room 1-2251, Beltsville MD20705-5128, (301) 504- 1617, fax 504-1648.

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