Abstract

Bristly locust (Robinia hispida L. [Fabaceae]) is a native tree legume that has received relatively little scientific attention from an agronomic perspective. The objective of this research was to assess transplant survival of bristly locust in an emulated organic goat (Capra hircus L.) silvopasture. Clumps of trees grew well when mechanically transplanted into a warm-season grass-legume sward. Although the number of original live trees decreased 5 mo after transplanting by about 50%, the number of new shoots arising from rhizomes 2 y after transplanting was 5.3 shoots per plot (range 0 to 26 shoots), at an average distance of 1.4 m from the original clump (range 0.5 to 2.4 m). Our survival and growth data suggest that bristly locust may be well suited for organic livestock browse because of good performance in competition with existing herbaceous vegetation, but further research is needed on its nutritive value, presence or absence of antinutritional factors, and grazing management.

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