Effects of Spring Wildfires on Astrebla (Mitchell grass) Grasslands in North-West Queensland Under Varying Levels of Growing Season Rainfall.

1980 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 162 ◽  
Author(s):  
JC Scanlan

The response of Asr~ebla (Mitchell grass) grasslands to burning was determined in relation to the amount of rainfall re- ceived in the following growing season. Nine A. lappacea and three A. pecrinata locations in north-west Queensland were studied [:or both species, fire tended to increase the number and total dry weight of new tillers, although the individual tillers were smaller. Very low and very high rainfall resulted in sub-optimal new tiller formation in unburnt areas of A. lappacea. 1,lowering and seed set was also stimulated by wildfires. The nitrogen content of new tillers in burnt treatments was higher than for those in unburnt treatments under low growing season rainfall and lower under high growing season rainfall. Dry matter production from burnt A, lappacea, relative to unburnt areas, decreased under low rainfall and increased under high rainfall. Burning at a time of high soil moisture resulted in higher dry matter production and higher nitrogen content than burning during the spring period when soil moisture was low. The ecological and management implications of these responses are discussed

2010 ◽  
Vol 61 (5) ◽  
pp. 353 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. L. Burkitt ◽  
D. J. Donaghy ◽  
P. J. Smethurst

Pasture is the cheapest source of feed for dairy cows, therefore, dairy pastures in Australia are intensively managed to maximise milk production and profits. Although soil testing commonly suggests that soils used for dairy pasture production have adequate supplies of phosphorus (P), many Australian dairy farmers still apply fertiliser P, often by applying smaller rates more frequently throughout the year. This study was designed to test the hypotheses that more frequent, but lower rates of P fertiliser applied strategically throughout the growing season have no effect on dry matter production and P concentration in perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.), when soil extractable P concentrations are above the critical value reported in the literature. Three field sites were established on rain-fed dairy pasture soils ranging in P sorption capacity and with adequate soil P concentrations for maximising pasture production. Results showed that applied P fertiliser had no effect on pasture production across the 3 sites (P > 0.05), regardless of rate or the season in which the P was applied, confirming that no P fertiliser is required when soil extractable P concentrations are adequate. This finding challenges the viability of the current industry practice. In addition, applying P fertiliser as a single annual application in summer did not compromise pasture production at any of the 3 sites (P > 0.05), which supports the current environmental recommendations of applying P during drier conditions, when the risk of surface P runoff is generally lower. The current results also demonstrate that the short-term cessation of P fertiliser application may be a viable management option, as a minimal reduction in pasture production was measured over the experimental period.


1969 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 417 ◽  
Author(s):  
JH Silsbury

Lolium rigidum Gaud. and a summer-dormant and a non-dormant form of Lolium perenne L. were grown as seedling plants for 32 days in controlled environment cabinets at constant temperatures of either 10, 20, or 30°C and in all cases with a 16-hr photoperiod at a light intensity of 3600 lm ft-2. Sampling at 4-day intervals permitted the detailed examination of dry matter growth curves. Differences in total dry matter production were related to initial differences in seedling dry weight, and the general responses to temperature were similar for each ryegrass. Total dry matter production was greatest at 20°C and lowest at 10°. A temperature of 30° did not induce dormancy in the summer-dormant ryegrass but did depress growth. Relative growth rate fell with time at each temperature.


1995 ◽  
Vol 46 (7) ◽  
pp. 1401 ◽  
Author(s):  
RR Gault ◽  
MB Peoples ◽  
GL Turner ◽  
DM Lilley ◽  
J Brockwell ◽  
...  

Nodulation, N2 fixation (estimated by 15N natural abundance methods) and dry matter production were studied in a lucerne (Medicago sativa) crop managed for hay production at Ginninderra Experiment Station, A.C .T. Measurements were taken in the year of establishment and during two subsequent growing seasons. There were three treatments: (1) no inoculation and no annual fertilizer applied, (2) initial inoculation and superphosphate applied annually, (3) no inoculation, superphosphate applied annually and ammonium sulfate periodically. Before planting and after each growth season, soil was analysed for extractable mineral nitrogen, total nitrogen and the 15N natural abundance of this nitrogen, to the depth explored by lucerne roots. Before planting, no appropriate root-nodule bacteria (Rhizobium meliloti) were detected in the soil and initially plants were nodulated only in the inoculated treatment. Thereafter nodulation increased on the other treatments. Eight months after sowing there were no differences between treatments in numbers of R. meliloti g-l soil or in nodulation. In the third growing season, almost 30 kg ha-1 (dry wt) of nodules were recovered to a depth of 25 cm. These nodules were primarily located on fine, ephemeral roots and many appeared to be renewed after cutting of the lucerne. In the year of establishment, dry matter yields (0% moisture) totalled 3 to 4 t ha-1 in three hay cuts. In succeeding years, total yields were in the range 10 to 13 t ha-1 in four or five cuts per season. Nitrogen removed in the harvested lucerne reached 340 to 410 kg N ha-lyr-l in the second and third years and between 65 and 96% of this N arose from N2 fixation, depending on the method of calculation used. Poorer dry matter production and N2 fixation in treatment 1 in the third growing season was attributed to an insufficient supply of available phosphorus. Fixed N removed in Lucerne hay from treatment 2 totalled at least 640 kg N ha-1 in the three years of the experiment. Also, there were substantial increases in soil nitrogen due to lucerne growth. Although soil compaction made the quantification difficult, at the end of the experiment it was estimated that there was at least an extra 800 kg N ha-1 in the total soil nitrogen under lucerne compared to strips of Phalaris aquatica grown between the lucerne plots. It was concluded that lucerne contributed at least the same amount of fixed nitrogen to the soil as was being removed in the harvested hay.


1969 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 339-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Gasser ◽  
L. Lachance ◽  
P. Gervais

In two experiments, one with alfalfa and the other with birdsfoot trefoil, we have been able to show that a late cut in October does not adversely affect dry matter yield (DAI) of the legumes. Three cuts during a harvesting season ending on September 5 were detrimental to alfalfa, since lower yields were obtained the following year of harvest. Birdsfoot trefoil varieties were affected differentially. Three cuts did not affect the yield of Viking the following year, but did so of Empire. Significant differences in dry matter yields were obtained between DuPuits and Vernal and between Viking and Empire. Protein in the forage followed inversely the same pattern as that of DM yields, that is, where the intervals were shortest, the protein content was highest, and conversely. The total available carbohydrate and the nitrogen content of the roots were lowest following the treatments which had the shortest intervals between them.


1980 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 426-428
Author(s):  
S. Thompson

The components of shoot growth and dry matter production in 1 + 0 lodgepole pine (Pinuscontorta Dougl. ex Loud. spp. contorta) seedlings raised under clear polythene cloches for 12 weeks at five seedbed densities (180–720 plants/m2) were studied. The greater plant height found at the highest seedbed density was the result of increased stem unit length, not increased number of stem units. The increase in plant dry weight as seedbed density decreased was largely due to greater dry weight of roots, branchwood, and branch foliage, and not to increases in stemwood and stem foliage weight. Seedbed densities of less than 460 seedlings/m2 are required to produce yields of suitably sturdy seedlings in excess of 50% of the crop.


1969 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. B. Hearn

SUMMARYVariety, water and spacing were treatments in two experiments with cotton in 1963 and 1964 in which fruiting points, flowers and bolls were counted and the dry weights and leaf areas of plants were measured at intervals during the season.Until leaf-area index, L, started to decrease, the equation described how dry weight, W, changed. The equation gave smoothed estimates of crop growth rate, C, which were consistent with estimates of photosynthesis made with de Wit's (1965) model. The relationship between G and L conformed to , derived from Beer's Law, rather than C = aL — bL2 derived from the linear regression of E on L. When L > 3 the crop appeared to use most of the available light, so that C approached a maximum. Treatments initially affected dry-matter production through the numbers and types of branches and nodes, which in turn affected the sinks available and thus the proportion of dry matter reinvested in new leaf. This initial period, when growth was simple to describe in conventional terms, was denned as the vegetative phase of growth.The start of the reproductive phase of growth overlapped the vegetative phase. The change from one to the other was completed when the rate of dry weight increase of the bolls, CB, equalled C. This indicated that the sink formed by the bolls had increased sufficiently in size to use all the assimilates available for growth. Sink size increased as the crop flowered and was estimated from the product of the number of bolls and the growth rate of a single boll.When CB equalled C, bolls were shed which prevented the size of the sink to increase beyond the ability of the plant to supply it with assimilates. This agrees with Mason's nutritional theory of boll shedding. Because of the crop's morphology and because age decreased the photosynthesis of the crop, the size of the sink inevitably increased out of phase with the supply of assimilates. The extent to which this was so determined when CB equalled C. It is postulated that environment, genotype and agronomic practice affect yield according to whether they increase or decrease the extent to which the sink size and the supply of assimilates are out of phase.


1996 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 299-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jouko Kleemola ◽  
Tuomo Karvonen

According to current scenarios, atmospheric CO2 -concentration ([CO2]) and average air temperature will rise in the future. The predicted longer growing season in Finland would imply that more productive cultivars and even new crop species could be grown. Moreover, higher [CO2] is also likely to increase dry matter production of crops. This study analyzed the growth of spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) under ambient and suggested future conditions, and its response to N fertilization. Model simulations of soil temperature and of snow accumulation and melting were also studied. The calibration and validation results showed that the model performed well in simulating snow dynamics, soil temperature, the growth of barley, and the response of crop growth to N fertilization under present conditions. According to the simulation runs, if a cultivar was adapted to the length of the growing period, the increase in dry matter production was 23% in a low estimate scenario of climate change, and 56% in a high estimate scenario under a high level of nitrogen fertilization. The simulation study showed that the shoot dry weight increased by 43%, on average, under high N fertilization (150-200 kg N/ha), but by less (20%) under a low level of N (25-50 kg N/ha) when the conditions under a central scenario for the year 2050 were compared with the present ones.


1969 ◽  
Vol 79 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 121-130
Author(s):  
Héber Irizarry ◽  
Ricardo Goenaga ◽  
Ulises Chardón

Two experiments were established 1 May through 1 December 1991 and 1992 to determine the monthly nutrient uptake and dry matter production of the 'Gunung' yam (Dioscorea alata) grown on an Ultisol. During the first year the plants were fertilized with 0; 667; 1,333; 2,000 and 2,667 kg/ha of a 15-5- 15-5 (N, P2O5, K2O and MgO) fertilizer supplemented with a minor element mixture. No fertilizer was applied the second year. Biomass harvests were conducted at 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 months after planting. At each harvest, the plants were dug-up and separated into leaf-laminas, vine and petioles, roots and tubers. Fresh and oven-dry weights of the plant components were determined and samples from each were analyzed for N, P, K, Ca and Mg. Regardless of the year, tuber dry matter yield was not significantly affected by the fertilizer treatment. Maximum nutrient uptakes were 214 kg/ha of N, 19 kg/ha of P, 223 kg/ha of K, 95 kg/ha of Ca and 9 kg/ha of Mg. Nitrogen, K and Ca uptake peaks occurred about five months after planting. Maximum dry matter production was 11,303 kg/ha, 8,672 kg/ha of which was tuber dry weight. The dry matter production peak occurred at the completion of the 7-month cropping cycle. The plants utilized 24.7 kg/ha of N, 2.2 kg/ha of P, 25.7 kg/ha of K, 11.0 kg/ha of Ca and 1.0 kg/ha of Mg, for every 1,000 kg/ha of edible dry matter produced.


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