Green Mamba | Russian Grass Seeds

Green Mamba™ is custom Russian Grass for irrigated or vlei/wetland waterlogged soil conditions that has been specifically bred with two or more distinct genetic lines, enabling cross fertilisation and thus viable seed, together with maximum hybrid vigour for multiple generations over 30-60 years. The Breeder Seed costs R1 a square meter, R2000 per kg, or R10 000 per ha, has 31.8% protein and enable daily weight gains of 1 kg with weaner calves and stimulate twinning with sheep and goats. It grows best in places with shallow subsoil moisture such as vlei in winter, and can handle cold down to more than minus 20 degrees Celcius. It is a true long term perennial that you only plant once in your lifetime with our unique Breeder Seed class, with ultra-long term longevity and persistence derived from the Breeder Seed genetics you receive. It is a bona fide long term perennial product with unique capabilities for a multi-generational seed based establishment process, to get a permanent feedlot level performance.

The original genetics, adapted to South Africa, have been improved with modern seed breeding technology and genetics, experimentation and selection refinement. Green Mamba™ experimented with various crosses using both hardy local and palatable imported eco types and genetics improving the eco-technology for niche eco climatic conditions.

The breeding Goals of our Russian Grass Breeder Seed were:

➢ a permanent pasture of feedlot nutritional quality above 30% Protein,
➢ able to self-irrigate with a deeper taproot of up to 1.8m depth,
➢ growing in sub optimal soil with a PH between 4 and 8 prone to occasional waterlogging and pulse floods.
➢ It must be able to handle 10-100 tons of manure per ha per year (300-500 kg of Nitrogen ha/year) and be able to extract the nitrogen from water seeping down a mountain slope into a vlei and convert it into high protein biomass as edible fodder.
➢ It must seed prolifically for 30-60 years never requiring replanting,
➢ thickening the stand for the highest possible protein levels,
➢ enabling winter grazing and
➢ constant regrowth at the fastest possible metabolic rate.

The Footslope of a hill with water seepage in winter/dry season is ideal for Russian grass. The footslope is best planted with a Piketberg No-till fineseed planter and the toeslope can be established with seeding via a fertilizer spreader and roller if the planter is too heavy for the thin soil layer.

Optimum planting depth 1-2 cm and not any deeper. Germination in 7-14 days and visible in 21 days. First Grazing with sheep after 90 days and with cattle after 120 days. First form seeds at 4-6 months after establishment, typically the entire summer. Typical seed production 100-300 kg of seed per ha per year with 6-10 year lifecycles. Plant Breeder Seed once, lasts 30-60 years+.

A pioneer population establishes from Breeder Seed, even in difficult conditions and inaccessible areas, with prolific F1 seed production until it covers its ecological niche target area with elevated protein levels.

Russian Grass establish best where you have a 5 cm - 15cm of soil over a permanently wet subsoil. The trick to successful establishment is to use the summer rainy season to get its deep root system into subsoil moisture, after which it grows year-round with feedlot levels of nutrition of 25-35% protein self-irrigating from water seepage. Water seeps down to the Toeslope due to gravity months after the rains have ended and Russian Grass harvests the moisture and turn it into edible winter powerfeed directly grazed without bloat or staggers.

The profit drivers -no irrigation cost due to gravity and topography, no fertilizer cost due to biological nitrogen fixation and no replanting cost due to genetics.

Russian Grass acts as a biofilter and filter out excess nutrients seeping down the hill with water molecules, and recycles nutrients in the deeper waterlogged clay soils in the footslope and toeslope. It can handle occasional flooding and be under water for a week or two once mature. Eroded soil with leached nutrients from very deep in the soil profile is recycled back into edible biomass. The Russian Grass is able to extract nutrient concentrations at densities and from places where other cool season pasture species can not. We refined these genetics further to maximise protein and palatability with low alkaloids and high protein -making profit from seeping water and leached nutrients.

New Russian Grass genetics for a new economic paradigm:

➢ The economic goal is to utilise the footslope toeslope floodplain high nutrient ecological niche opportunity to potential,
➢ Moving away from a paradigm of annual planting and baling of grass for winter feeding from backslope land,
➢ As well as away from annual burning of dry summer grass,
➢ to a new sustainable paradigm where free seeping water on a footslope of a hill into a toeslope vlei is used without Eskom energy costs fire or soil damaging practises,
➢ and where biological nitrogen fixation from upland Clover, Bushlucerne and other legumes such as birdsbeed trefoil is used for fertilisation to an elevated feedlot level nutrional plane (25-35% protein),
➢ pushing the Russian Grass to industrial levels of winter dry season production -which is growing all winter and all summer in the FS and TS downland vlei waterlogged areas, never burning down; and leading to rising soil fertility and soil health.
➢ As water seeps down the mountain slopes under the soil on the bedrock due to gravity, it seeps through the legume root mass on the backslope, picks up nitrogen molecules and washes it into the footslope and vlei toeslope where the Russian Grass roots then recycle the nutrients into edible biomass, typically 1 ton of edible material of 25-35% protein for every 100mm of water ha/year in the 1.8m deep soil root profile. The roots form a thick matted area on the bedrock and filter out whatever nutrients seeps into it.
➢ These high protein levels is achieved due to concentrated legume nitrogen.
➢ Our Russian Grass is the only genetics on the market which you cannot easily kill with excess nitrogen, and which is able to filter out excess nutrients found in nature in the Footslope and Toeslope waterlogged areas on the bedrock overlain with anaerobic clay. This is the paydirt.

A recharge wetland and a discharge wetland. Russian Grass tries to lower the water table on the floodplain and poorly drained areas in both using its high plant population density and heavy water use, in order to improve the soil oxygen levels, soil fertility and to better mine leached nutrients in the great soils in the VPD (very poorly drained) areas. The reason we specialise in Breeder Seed is that such genetics enables us to use up excess water with high population densities in order to stimulate this water table lowering process and commercialise this hidden soil fertility resource.

What Russian Grass Is:

➢ Footslope, Toeslope and Floodplain grass establishing in this order.
➢ Breeder Seed leads to high population densities which lower the water table and make hidden leached wetland soil fertility resources more accessable.
➢ The leverage process is use up as much water as possible flooding down the hill, so that the bottom-most Russian Grass plants gets at least 5 cm of soil depth over permanent moisture on the floodplain. This A soil horison is enough for them to extract oxygen from the topsoil layer, pump it down the root system and then mine the deeper leached nutrients most effectively. It is enough to establish and make a lot of seed and then permanently establish on the floodplain area, being submerged occasionally, but surviving with bigger plants.
➢ The commercial pay-off: using water run-off which is normally not used, in an area where summer grass genetics are normally dead and burning in the wetland in winter, with perennial high protein evergrowing Russian Grass genetics. Lo quality useless vlei grass is replaced with very high quality evergreen vlei grass.
➢ Water quality improves and soil fertility improves.

What Russian Grass is not:

➢ It is not a dryland grass in areas with less than 700-800mm of rain or no supplemental irrigation.
➢ It is a swamp grass not a desert grass.
➢ It is for temperate and very cold places, not dry and extremely hot places.
➢ The more shallow subsoil water it has the more it is able to handle heat and unfavourable conditions. The trick is to get the long term perennial established, which takes time. The root system takes priority and not that above ground what you can see.
➢ It is not a permanently underwater plant. It can handle 2-3 week floods and can be semi-submerged for long periods, but it prefers to be just just above the water table and to have most of the grass plant stick out above the water. It needs a litte bit of drier soil to be able to take up oxygen most effectively for peak performance. As such it does best in vlei margins and not on the wettest portion of the floodplain. It is not a reed.

During the breeding and selection process the optimum F1 Hybrids for extensive South African conditions was refined and selected for. The multi-year multi generational F1 Hybrids forms the genetic basis for Green Mamba™ grass for establishment in the footslope, toeslope and floodplain realities described above. Selection for optimum inter and intraspecific heterosis has been key with a much wider genetic Phalaris genus base and more variation than found in commercial Phalaris seed lines. Our Breeder Seed is multi-generational and we establish difficult footslope and toeslope areas with continuous seed drop of F1 seed, to form a deep root system, to lower the water table and to act as a bio-filter, to make ultra high protein year round and to make money for the end user with red meat. The perspective is that the footslope and toeslope will need at least 100 kg of seed ha to be fully stablished and we achieve that by responsibly establishing 5 kg ha breeder seed in such niche areas where such a commercial stand is desired. Once we have a dense stand we graze it so hard that it doesn’t make so much seed anymore due to grazing pressure. Our customers are not in the seed business, they are in the meat business. As the water table is lowered and the best soils become more available, we slowly expand the Russian Grass zone and extend the optimum grazing range. In the wet season much of it is not used due to being too wet, and as these areas dry out into winter and become more accessable we graze it continuously and hard.

https://agribook.co.za/natural-resource-management/wetlands/

With Russian Grass on footslope and toeslope land, we focus on carefully using the hydrology in order to leverage a 5 times+ higher carrying capacity in a sustainable, responsible and professional manner. We do this by replacing low quality swamp grass with high quality Russian grass adapted to wetland conditions, not requiring burning, not requiring drainage channels and bred for the peripheral niche footslope toeslope floodplain area we use it in. It is legal and we have a 10 year history of responsible and sensible niche ecological use. We don’t drain the swamp, we lower its water table 5cm with the Russian Grass roots self-irrigating. The nutrients seeping into the Russian grass we finely filter with a massive root system, leading to balanced soils, clean water and healthy soils with high fertility livestock manure. The livestock have shiny coats and calve and lamb easily with lots of milk due to high nutrition, derived from high soil fertility, in the selected ecological niche. The livestock manure recycle the nutrients high up.

Typical length of Russian Grass taproot with penetration to deep subsoil moisture on the Footslope and Toeslope. Such a general root system in the entire class of plants including Russian grass- is able to self-irrigate in selected ecological niche areas on the footslope of a hill/mountain and scavenges for leached nutrients in the toeslope floodplain waterlogged soils. It pushes down to the bedrock if possible and draws up nutrients from there. It extracts water and nutrients from deep and turns it into feedlot quality 25%-35% fodder even in winter with -20 degrees Celcius temperatures.

Deep-rooted long-term perennial grasses have huge root reserves enabling higher performance than annuals and short-term perennials, with much higher carrying capacities due to using more of the soil profile and by being able to form a filter on the bedrock for nutrient run-off from on high. Our genetics enable our customers to tap into this fertility stream on the bedrock and to leverage against it for multiple livestock carrying capacity gains per ha yr.

Phase 1: Establish Russian Grass on footslope and toeslope
Phase 2: Establish Clover, Bushlucerne and Birdsfoot trefoil legumes on the backslope.
Phase 3: Have nitrogen seep down into the Russian Grass biofilter root system from on high.
Phase 4: Add custom pasture earthworms incorporating the livestock manure.
Phase 5: Farm profitably, sustainably, low risk, low cost.

A prolific deep root system similar to this enable biofiltration and phytoremediation, building large root reserves, which in turn enable a much higher livestock carrying capacity,with much more elevated cold hardiness down to -20 degrees Celcius and prolific commercial feedlot production when combined with leveraged soil fertility.

Sometimes it is the jockey and not the horse. Having Russian Grass and using it correctly is not the same thing. It is a professional grass solution.

Amateurs talk above ground edible biomass, profesionals talk below ground root biomass, maximising nutrients seeping down the bedrock with gravity.

Russian grass typically has 7=10 tons of below soil root mass which filter out such nutrients and water that seep through it on the bedrock. It acts as a biofilter and phyto- remediate the soil. That is the genetic capability which we leverage into commercial competitive advantages.

Deep root penetration of up to 1.8m down to subsoil moisture enables a much higher carrying capacity due to making use of the full soil profile nutrients, from multiple upland hectares and from previously submerged floodplain soils. This pic is a typical deep rooted perennial grass. The reason Russian Grass outperforms annuals and short term perennials is because it has a much deeper, bigger, wider and more vigorous root system able to handle far higher nutrient concentrations and able to create a optimal floodplain habitat for itself with high enough population densities. The downside is that it takes a while to form and establish first before the full commercial production plane is achieved. If you have a clay layer 40 cm deep then the root system filter out any nutrients accumulating in the top of the clay layer.

Russian Grass is in the long term perennial deep rooted grass cluster eventually outperforming all annual, short term perennials such as Rescue Grass, Cocksfoot and Ryegrass due to a better, bigger, deeper more aggressive deep soil profile root system (1.8m root potential vs 40-50cm roots). The root system act as a biolfilter able to handle nutrient concentrations that would kill other grass plants. It can lower the water table of a floodplain by 5cm making it a permanent winter pasture.

The first 6-12 months this root system establishes and then from year 2 onwards it enables a much higher level of commercial production than shallow 30 cm deep roots of annuals and 40-50 cm deep roots of short-term perennials. Russian Grass is novel in that it filters out nutrients eroding and washing down from higher elevations and upstream and thus give elevated production yields, from water run-off from more than 1 ha, with nutrients running off from from more than 1 ha, typically able to achieve carrying capacities 5 x higher than normal grassland provided it is done professionally, to potential.

Once the floodplainwater table is low enough with 5cm of soil above the subsmoil moisture, Russian Grass mines the great floodplainsoils for great livestock carrying capacities of up to 10 x normal veld LSU/ha/yr.

Russian Grass is able to self-irrigate on the footslope of hills and in toeslope vlei during winter, and on floodplainsoils, thus accessing seeping water deep or shallow subsoil moisture in the soil profile where no oxygen is present, because of the rooting depth visible in this picture. It has the ability to pump oxygen down its roots and mine/recycle leached nutrients on the bedrock and in deep nutrient rich clays and alluvial deposits. This is its secret power.

The question you need to ask is do you have moisture year round at 5 cm-1.8m depth somewhere on your farm footslope, vlei and floodplaintoeslope areas? Do you have deep clay? If the answer is yes, then Russian Grass is an option to convert such moisture/leached nutrients reserves into plant protein of 25-35% and then into red meat daily weight gains of 1 kg liveweight gain per day with a 5+ higher carrying capacity than veldt.

Note: Russian Grass has only moderate salinity tolerance, but very high tolerance of just about everything else. We use it commercially in bio-filter projects, together with niche soil microbes, earthworms and manure to correct run-off problems and effluent imbalances naturally. It cleans and filter dirty water and polluted soils.

Looking at this topography and geography, you can see where the bedrock and nutrient run-off would cause mature Russian grass roots to form such a thick root mass and biofilter. It is on the lower backslope, footslope, toeslope and part of the floodplain, under the alluvial deposited soils on top of the bedrock. In wet alluvial soil Russian grass roots press down and search for the bedrock layer on which most of the nutrient run-off is found. Once you understand this concept, you can site, locate and manage your own Russian Grass more effectively bio-mimicking these conditions more effectively.

In this picture you can see where the Russian Grass would thrive in the best soils, preventing erosion, filtering out excess nutrients and lowering the water table whilst cleaning it. Livestock grazing the Russian grass would recycle nutrients back to higher areas via manure droppings. The reason Russian grass is able to give 5 x and better yield increases is because of the better soil, condensed nutrients and abundant water.

Typical Order of Establishment:

1. Legumes on the backslope.
2. Russian Grass on the footslope.
3. Russian Grass on the toeslope.
4. Russian Grass in the floodplane.
5. Earthworms in the thick A soil horizon on toeslope.
6. Soil microbes where possible.

Planting methods:

1. Plant 1-2cm deep max with good seed soil contact.
2. No Till fineseed planter on sloped land.
3. Broadcast seeding by hand, fertilizer spreader on sloped land, followed by a roller.
4. Ridge planting on toeslope and floodplain with flooding.
5. Aerial seeding of backslope hills or by drone.
6. NOTE – small grass must not be under water.
7. NOTE – lots of summer grass competition delays establishment a year but is much better than not planting and starting the process.
8. NOTE-The art of the possible, in real life, on a difficult wicket.

Typical cost for a 5-x time increase in carrying capacity:

1. An additional R10 000 per ha (over and above the R10 000 breeder seed).
2. This is for a mix of appropriate legume seeds,
3. As well as appropriate soil microbes
4. As well as appropriate pasture earthworms maximising to 100 tons ha yr the amount of manure that can be incorporated into the A soil horison.
5. This is a booster process and optional, and is normally only engaged in after successful establishment of the Russian Grass.
6. It is somewhat similar to the process used in Macadamia nut orchards as per www.bushlucerne.co.za under the mulch section.