Studies of seed production in two Austrodanthonia grass cultivars

Abstract

Studies were conducted in 1993–94 on 2 native grass cultivars, Austrodanthonia richardsonii (Link) H.P. Linder (syn. Danthonia richardsonii Cashmore) cv. Taranna and A. bipartita (Link) H.P. Linder (syn. D. linkii Kunth) cv. Bunderra, to quantify the important morphological factors affecting seed production (as measured by seed weight, g/plant). Experiments also examined the influence of nitrogen (N) application and investigated the effects of time and method of harvest on seed production and subsequent germination. For both cultivars, inflorescence and floret number accounted for the highest proportion of the variation in seed production per plant (R² = 0.873 and 0.686 for Taranna and Bunderra, respectively). Although N applied (0, 25, and 50 kg/ha) at the late vegetative or early flowering stage, or split applications at both times, had no significant effect (P > 0.05) on the seed production per plant of Taranna and Bunderra, further studies of N effects are required. In 1993 and 1994, time of inflorescence harvest and method of harvest had no significant effect on inflorescence number and seed production of Taranna and Bunderra and no significant effect on the subsequent germination of Bunderra seed. However, in 1993, harvesting at an early stage of flowering (10% of florets white and fluffy) reduced Taranna seed production by 17% compared with the mean and decreased (P < 0.05) seed germination by about 10%. In 1994, harvesting at early flowering (5% florets white and fluffy) reduced Taranna seed production by a mean of around 55% compared with harvesting at 50% maturity, and subsequent seed germination was also lower (P < 0.05) for the early harvest time. Application of 1 L/ha of paraquat (a.i. 200 g/L of paraquat dichloride) at mid-flowering to desiccate the crop in 1993 had no significant effect on the germination of Taranna and Bunderra caryopses. The implications of these data for commercial seed production are discussed.