Phalaris persistence under rotational grazing on a highly acidic soil on the south-west slopes of New South Wales
G. D. Li A C , K. R. Helyar A B , M. K. Conyers A , B. R. Cullis A , G. J. Poile A and P. G. Knight AA NSW Department of Primary Industries, Wagga Wagga Agricultural Institute, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2650, Australia.
B Retired.
C Author for correspondence; e-mail: guangdi.li@agric.nsw.gov.au
Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 44(8) 771-778 https://doi.org/10.1071/EA03047
Submitted: 18 February 2003 Accepted: 17 October 2003 Published: 20 September 2004
Abstract
Phalaris (Phalaris aquatica L.)-based pastures were established with and without lime in 1992 as a part of a long-term pasture–crop rotation experiment (Managing Acid Soils Through Efficient Rotations). Pre- and post-grazing pasture dry matter, phalaris basal cover and proportion of phalaris in sward were measured since 1992. In general, phalaris persisted well and its productivity was high on the highly acidic soil studied in the current experiment, and this was improved on the limed treatment. After establishment in 1992, the average proportion of phalaris in spring 2001 was 32.1% in the limed treatment and 15.6% in the unlimed treatment. Basal cover at the end of summer 2002 was 4.5% and 2.0% for the limed and unlimed treatments, respectively. The results from the current experiment showed that subsurface acidity (low pHCa and high exchangeable aluminium percentage in the 10–30 cm soil depth) had significant impacts on phalaris persistence. It is concluded that subsurface pH was one of the major constraints for the persistence of phalaris. The long-term management of soil acidity should aim to eliminate the exchangeable aluminium from the soil profile by maintaining a high pHCa (5.5 or above) in the 0–10 cm soil depth. Rainfall during growing season had no direct effect on phalaris persistence. Nevertheless, feed scarcity in dry years due to moisture stress often exacerbated grazing pressure on phalaris, which may affect the phalaris persistence indirectly.
It is the grazing management in autumn and summer that had significant effects on phalaris persistence. It is suggested that rotational grazing plus strategic rest if possible in autumn could prolong the life of phalaris-based pastures. Repeated heavy grazing should be avoided during summer, particularly after light to moderate summer rainfall events have stimulated sprouting.
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to Mr Bob Chambers, the manager of the property ‘Brooklyn’ owned by the Hurstmead Pastoral Co., for the lease of the land and continuous support over the years. Also Rod Fisher, Lisa Castleman, Catherine Evans, Mark Wilson, Greg Scott, Richard Lowrie, Les Rodham and many other ongoing technical staff for their assistance, and to anonymous internal and external reviewers for their constructive comments. The project has been funded by NSW Agriculture with support from the International Wool Secretariat (1991–97), Meat Research Corporation (1994–97), Land and Water Resources Research and Development Corporation (1994–97), Grain Research and Development Corporation (1997–02) and Acid Soil Action, an initiative of NSW Government (1997–03). Our thanks also extend to Incitec Pty Ltd for supplying fertilisers and Omya Southern Pty Ltd for supplying lime.
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