scholarly journals OVERSOWN GRASSES AND THEIR MANAGEMENT ON SOUTHLAND HILL COUNTRY

Author(s):  
Cd Meurk ◽  
J.D. Turner

Infertile hill country grasslands are a vastly under-utilised pastoral resource in New Zealand. Three years of trial results on this class of land in eastern Southland are summarised. Five grasses (Grasslands Nui ryegrass, Wana cocksfoot, Matua prairie grass, Roa tall fescue and Maru phalaris) were oversown together with Huia white clover and subterranean clover. These were compared with a resident pasture, all under two fertility levels and two rotational grazing managements, and with unimproved pasture. The use of fertiliser and rotational grazing doubled the productivity of the unimproved rangeland to ca. 10,500 kg DMlhalyear. The addition of white clover increased yield to 12,000 kg, and improved grasses increased this further to 14,000 kg. Keywords: agronomy, fertiliser, grasses, grazing management, hill country, oversowing, pasture composition, pasture yield.

Author(s):  
J.A. Lancashire ◽  
J.L. Brock

Some characteristics of seed quality, establishment rates, performance in mixtures and response to grazing management of 5 new pasture plants with potential in dryland are described. On a dry hill country site in the Wairarapa, the contribution of the sown grasses established in separate plots with clovers under rotational grazing was 'Grasslands Wana' cocksfoot 65%; 'Grasslands Maru' phalaris 23%; 'Grasslands Matua' prairie grass 22%; and 'Grasslands Roa' tall fescue 13% after 2 years. The other main grass species was resident perennial ryegrass which established from buried seed (ca. 240 plants/m*) and had a major impact on the establishment and growth of the sown grasses. On a seasonally dry Manawatu flat land soil 3 grazing managementsviz. set stocked all year (S); rotational all year (R); and combination (Cl (set stocked from lambing to drafting and rotational for the remainder of the year) were applied to mixtures of the new cultivars (except that 'Grasslands Apanui' cocksfoot replaced Wana) with ryegrass and white clover stocked at 20 sheep/ha. After 3 years the contribution of the new cultivars was negligible under S and ryegrass was dominant. The R pastures became cocksfoot dominant and Matua (in winter) and chicory (in summer) contributed more than in the S system. The C system produced the most evenly balanced species contribution with only Roa remaining at (5%. A sub-trial with cocksfoot cultivars demonstrated that Wana maintained better production and tiller density ~ll,000/m2 ) than Apanui (1000/m' ) under set stocking IS). Although some of the new cultivars will require specialised management procedures to fulfil their potential in dryland, the increasing and widespread use of Matua prairie grass in farming suggests that these techniques can be adopted in commercial agriculture provided good technical information is available in a management package when the cultivar is released. Keywords: Dryland, grazing management, mixtures, Matua prairie grass, Wana cocksfoot, Roa tall fescue, Maru phalaris, Chicory


Author(s):  
D.L. Ryan

Four white clover cultivars 'Grasslands tluia', 'Grasslands Tahora', 'Grasslands Kopu' and 'Grasslands Pit& were evaluated at Grasslands Division, Gore, for 4 years, under 2 grazing managements. Year round rotational grazing was compared with rotational grazing incorporating a 1 P-week period of set stocking during spring. Huia was the best cultivar under both grazing managements. Tahora yields were comparable with those of Huia in spring and summer, and ryegrass yields were best in Tahora wards. The larger leaved and less stoloniferous Kopu and Pitau were not suited to the climatic conditions or the mtensive sheep grazing practices of the region. Keywords: Trifolium repens, Huia, Tahora, Pitau. KOPU, grazing management, stolon morphology, persistence, sheepfarming


1985 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 45-50
Author(s):  
D.E. Hume ◽  
T.J. Fraser

Grass and legume species/cultivars available to farmers in the summer dry east coast of New Zealand, other than the traditionally used perennial ryegrasslwhite clover, fall into 3 categories: 1. drought tolerant species/cultivars which will maintain production later into summer and respond quickly after drought, e.g. cocksfoot, tall fescue, lucerne, prairie grass. 2 . species/cultivars which will maximise production in winter and spring, e.g. prairie grass, phalaris, subterranean clover. 3. species/cultivars compatible with summer crop programmes e.g. annual ryegrasses.


Author(s):  
W.M. Williams ◽  
M.G. Lambert ◽  
J.R. Caradus

A white clover variety selected for New Zealand moist hill country was compared with three other white clover varieties in hill country at Ballantrae. Small plots of the hill country selection, Grasslands Huia, Grasslands Pitau, and the resident Ballantrae white clover were planted into paddocks receiving high or low superphosphate applications and three different managements - rotational grazing by cattle, rotational grazing by sheep, or set-stocked sheep for most of the year. Numbers of white clover stolons, white clover dry matter (DM) and total DM production, and proportion of white clover in cut herbage were determined twice yearly for three years. After one year of grazing the hill country selection consistently had approximately double the stolon numbers of Huia, a significantly higher proportion of clover in the herbage than Huia and clover DM yields 25-63% higher than Huia. These differences were not affected significantly by either management or soil fertility. Pitau and the local Ballantrae white clover were at no time more productive than Huia and frequently were poorer, although stolen numbers of the Ballantrae clover were usually higher during the trial and almost matched the selected variety after three years. The hill country selection is being multiplied for pre-release testing.


Author(s):  
D.F. Chapman ◽  
G.W. Sheath ◽  
M.J. Macfarlane ◽  
P.J. Rumball ◽  
B.M.Cooper G. Crouchley ◽  
...  

Nine subterranean clover cultivars and 10 white clover varieties, differing in characters such as morphology and flowering date (sub clover), or growth habit and seeding ability (white clover), where evaluated for persistence and production at 8 summer-dry hill country sites. Results for the first 3-4 years suggest the sub clovers on the New Zealand Acceptable Herbage Cultivars List (Mt Barker, Tallarook, Woogenellup, Glare) should be revised. Regeneration of Woogenellup and Glare was consistently poor, while Tallarook performed well at most sites. The current unavailability of Tallarook seed means Mt Barker is the only effechve option for grasslands in most of New Zealand. Cultivars of the sub clover subspecies yanmnicum (Larisa, Trikkala) showed promise for winter~wet, summer dry environments, as did Nangeela in winter-cold environments. A late-flowering, prostrate, low oestrogenic sub clover similar to Tallarook would be well suited to large areas of summer-dry hill country. There is a clear need for a white clover cultivar adapted to summer-dry hill country as none of the varieties tested survived severe moisture stress at 2 sites (Hawke's Bay, North Canterbury), and none performed consistently well at the other sites. New Zealand vaneties (Hula, Pitau, G18 and a hill country selection) showed best persistence and production. The overseas cultivars Haifa, Tamar, Louisiana and Clarence Valley, which are all adapted to dry conditions in their country of origin, were consistently poor. Firm selection criteria for dry hill country were not identified, though stolen density and seeding ability should be incorporated and the strong influence of management and soil fertility on genotype performance must be recognised. Keywords: subterranean clover (Trifolium subterraneum L.), white clover (Trifolium repens L.), hill country, dryland, cultivars, persistence, genotype-environmental interaction.


2000 ◽  
Vol 134 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. HOPKINS ◽  
M. G. LAMBERT ◽  
D. J. BARKER ◽  
D. A. COSTALL ◽  
P. M. SANDERS ◽  
...  

An investigation was made during 1988 to test the hypothesis that ‘Grasslands Huia’ white clover (Trifolium repens L.) could be eliminated under close sheep grazing. The effects of grazing management, topography and fertilizer on the contribution of Huia plants to the white clover population in an 85 ha experimental upland pasture ecosystem in the southern North Island, New Zealand (lat. 40° 20′ S, long. 175° 50′ E, 125–350 m altitude) were quantified 11 years after oversowing. Replicated sampling sites (108 in total) were located on nine combinations of slope and aspect within grazing management treatments comprising rotational grazing with cattle (RC), rotational grazing with sheep (RS) and continuous grazing with sheep (CS), with high and low fertilizer treatments in each case. White clover occurrence, leaf area, phosphoglucoisomerase-2 (PGI-2) allele frequencies and the proportion of Grasslands Huia plants in the white clover population were determined at each site. White clover frequency was lower on steeper slopes. Aspect, slope and grazing management affected area of individual clover leaves. The proportion of Huia plants in the white clover population averaged 54·9, 49·0 and 33·6% for RC, RS and CS, respectively (P < 0·039, 5 D.F.). Fertilizer and topography did not affect the proportion of Huia. It was concluded that although Huia did persist after 11 years of close sheep grazing, its contribution to the total white clover population was unsatisfactory in some cases, and use of better adapted cultivars is suggested.


Author(s):  
B.R. Watkin

AN Aberystwyth selection of tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.), known as S170, was sown with certified New Zealand white clover (Trifolium repens) and re' clover (T. pratense) and compared under sheep grazing with other grass/clover pastures at the Grasslands Division Regional Station at Lincoln (Watkin, 1975) .


1989 ◽  
Vol 113 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. M. Hay ◽  
J. L. Brock ◽  
V. J. Thomas

SUMMARYDensities of physiologically independent plants of white clover were studied in New Zealand in pastures stocked at 22·5 ewes plus lambs/ha by set stocking, rotational grazing or a combination of both systems. Plants were sampled once a month for 1 year (1984/85) by taking turves and washing out the plants. Numbers of growing points and stolon dry weight per plant were obtained. At each sampling fifty, 50 mm diameter pasture plugs were taken from each sward and growing point density and stolon mass/m2 of white clover were measured. The density of white clover plants in the swards was estimated on the basis of both stolon dry weight and number of growing points.The two estimates gave similar results. There was a trend of lowest densities in set-stocked pastures (334/m2), intermediate densities in combination management pastures (431/m2) and highest densities in the rotationally grazed pastures (553/m2). The overall mean density of white clover plants was 439/m2 and the range was 193–811/m2.The structure of swards under the three systems of grazing differed and this was considered to contribute towards the variation in density of white clover plants in the various swards.


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