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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 60(6)

Replacement series studies of competition between tropical perennial and annual grasses and perennial grass mixtures in northern New South Wales

G. M. Lodge A B , S. P. Boschma A and S. Harden A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A NSW Department of Primary Industries, Tamworth Agricultural Institute, 4 Marsden Park Road, Calala, NSW 2340, Australia.

B Corresponding author. Email: greg.lodge@dpi.nsw.gov.au

Crop and Pasture Science 60(6) 526-531 https://doi.org/10.1071/CP08374
Submitted: 23 October 2008  Accepted: 30 March 2009   Published: 12 June 2009

Abstract

Seedlings of three perennial tropical grasses, Chloris gayana cv. Katambora (Rhodes grass), Panicum coloratum var. makarikariense cv. Bambatsi (panic grass), and Digitaria eriantha ssp. eriantha cv. Premier (digit grass), were each grown in replacement series mixtures with seedlings of the annual summer-growing grass weeds Urochloa panicoides (liverseed grass) and Echinochloa colona (awnless barnyard grass). A separate experiment examined the competitiveness of seedlings of the three perennial tropical grasses when two species were sown together. Plants were sown 50 mm apart in boxes at a density of 307 plants/m2. Maximum likelihood estimates were used to derive parameters of a non-linear competition model using the dry weights of perennial and annual grasses.

Seedlings of the summer-growing annual liverseed grass competed aggressively with those of the tropical perennial Katambora Rhodes grass. However, Bambatsi panic seedlings were equally competitive with those of awnless barnyard grass, while those in a Premier digit-barnyard grass mixture were inhibited by the presence of each other. In the perennial grass mixtures study, the performance of both Premier digit and Bambatsi panic was adversely affected by the presence of Katambora Rhodes grass.


Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Brian Roworth, Mark Brennan, Ivan Stace, and Peter Sanson in conducting these studies. Funding for this work was jointly provided by the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Future Farming Industries (formerly the CRC for Plant-based Management of Dryland Salinity) and the NSW Department of Primary Industries.


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