Fire in North American Wetland Ecosystems and Fire-Wildlife Relations: An Annotated Bibliography

9. Angell, R. F. 1983. Winter diet composition and quality, and performance 
        of cattle grazing burned and unburned gulf cordgrass rangeland. Ph.D. 
        Dissertation. Texas A&M University, College Station. 135 pp.

Following late fall burns, gulf cordgrass growth averaged 10 kg/halday but was greatly reduced during cold periods. Steer diets averaged 80% and 71% live leaf tissue on burned and unburned treatments, respectively. In 2 of 3 years, burning elevated the percentage of live leaf in diets over that of unburned plots. Because of lack of sufficient green forage on adjacent unburned uplands, cattle on both burned and unburned range consumed substantial gulf cordgrass. Cordgrass consumption decreased in March and April when more palatable forages became available. Burning increased steer diet quality and cattle on burned areas gained significantly more weight than cattle on unburned pastures. Diet quality will be enhanced during times of restricted gulf cordgrass growth if Texas wintergrass is available on adjacent upland areas. [From author's abstract]

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