New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research abstracts
Establishment and growth of grasses overdrilled into clover-developed, montane
tussock grasslands
R. F. WOODMAN*
W. L. LOWTHER+
AgResearch
Invermay Agricultural Centre
Private Bag 50034
Mosgiel, New Zealand
*Present address: 8 Beaconsfield Road, Portobello, Dunedin, New
Zealand.
Abstract Field experiments on clover-developed, dry, montane
tussock grassland soils compared the establishment of grasses following
broadcast oversowing and overdrilling by an experimental strip seeder or a
conventional triple disc drill, in the presence or absence of herbicides.
Perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) and cocksfoot (Dactylis
glomerata) were used with all three sowing methods. Tall fescue (Festuca
arundinacea) and Black Mountain rye (Secale montanum) were used only
with the experimental strip seeder drill. Treatments were sown in
September-October 1991. With oversowing, few seedlings established at the end
of the first growing season (May) and no seedlings survived the following
winter. With overdrilling, nine weeks after sowing there were two times the
number of ryegrass seedlings and six times the number of cocksfoot seedlings in
treatments sown with the strip seeder compared with those sown with the triple
disc drill. Ryegrass seedlings numbers in May were 2- to 6-fold higher and
cocksfoot 15- to 20-fold higher with the strip seeder drill compared with the
triple disc drill. Ryegrass and cocksfoot seedlings from the strip seeder drill
were also larger and had a longer and more extensive root development than
those from the triple disc drill. The effects were still evident in Years 2 and
3, when dry matter yields of ryegrass, and cocksfoot in the triple disc
treatments remained low even when herbicide had been applied. Yields of
ryegrass and cocksfoot in the triple disc treatment with herbicide were similar
to yields with the strip seeder drill in the absence of herbicide. The results
demonstrate serious limitations when conventional sowing methods are used to
establish grasses into clover-developed tussock grasslands, and indicate the
potential of strip seeder drill technology for effective establishment.
Keywords Establishment; grasses; herbicide; overdrilling;
oversowing; strip seeder drill; triple disc drill
New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research, 1998, Vol. 41: 463-475
0028-8233/98/4104-0463 $7.00/0 (c) The Royal Society of New Zealand
1998
PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (1008K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)
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