New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research abstracts
Harvesting, processing, and marketing Australian native
grass seeds
D. S. LOCH1
P. W JOHNSTON2
T. A. JENSEN3
G. L. HARVEY1
1Department of Primary Industries
P.O. Box 395
Gympie, Qld 4570, Australia
2Department of Primary Industries
P.O. Box 282
Charleville, Qld 4470, Australia
3Department of Primary Industries
P.O. Box 102
Toowoomba, Qld 4350, Australia
Abstract A number of useful Australian native grasses have
been identified for various situations: for turf, amenity, and ornamental
purposes; for revegetation of mine spoil, roadsides, and degraded land; and as
forages. Their commercialisation depends on developing appropriate
seed-harvesting and processing technology, thereby ensuring that seed is
produced in a form that can be sown satisfactorily and gives reliable
establishment. While conventional header harvesters can be used with some
species (e.g., Astrebla lappacea), beater and (especially) brush
harvesters have been more successful with many others, particularly grasses
with light, difficult-to-handle, chaffy seeds. After harvest, chaffy seeds can
be processed to make their subsequent handling and sowing easier. Choice of
processing method depends on the structural complexity of the dispersal units
and on the particular chaffy appendages involved. Awns and sterile spikelets
are comparatively easy to remove, with surface hairs and bristles the most
difficult. Market acceptance, however, ultimately depends on the value that
consumers place on convenience and ease of handling versus any costs added
through processing.
Keywords seed harvesting; seed processing; seed handling;
seed marketing; Australian native grasses
New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research, 1996, Vol. 39: 591-599
0028-8233/96/3904-0591 $2.50/0 (c) The Royal Society of New Zealand
1996
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