Summary
Our research focuses on cultivated, rangeland and native grasslands. These include savannas in Texas, South America and Africa. The particular focus is legumes, whether herbaceous, shrubs, or arboreal. Herbivores play a central role, especially insects, birds or ruminants as they interact with soils, hydrology and plants.
Restoring Native Grasslands
With support from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Tarleton State University, Kingsville A&M University, and Texas A&M AgriLife Research Stephenville and Corpus Christi, we are looking for the most effective way to replace Bermudagrass with diverse native grassland plant species. This research is going on at Stephenville, McGregor, College Station, and Beeville, Texas.
Domesticating Native Herbaceous Species
At Stephenville, we focus on herbaceous and bushy legumes native to northcentral Texas. Genera include Desmanthus, Dalea and Desmodium. As part of Texas A&M Kingsville’s Central Texas Natives project, we collect, characterize and eventually release grasses and forbs, including legumes.
Dual-Purpose Forage
As part of a long history of forage agronomy work at Stephenville, we look at grass and legume yields and nutrient content. We are especially interested in dual-purpose forage and bioenergy crops.
Dr. Jim Muir
Team Members
- Ruben Diaz Matos, PhD, Tarleton
- Nicholas Rasschaert, PhD, Tarleton
- Refilwe Baatweng, MSc, Tarleton
- Nichole Cherry, MSc, Sr. Research Associate and Laboratory Manager
- Jordan Senn, Research Assistant
Current Graduate Students Chaired
- Al Plucker, MSc. Tarleton WNR. Yield and nutritive value of Dalea spp. Forage Science.
- Emily Green, MSc. Tarleton. WNR. Peanuts breeding.