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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 28(2)

Native couch grasses for revegetating severely salinised sites on the inland slopes of NSW. Part 2

W. S. Semple A E , I. A. Cole B , T. B. Koen B , D. Costello C and D. Stringer D
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A NSW Department of Natural Resources, PO Box 53, Orange, NSW 2800, Australia.

B NSW Department of Natural Resources, PO Box 445, Cowra, NSW 2794, Australia.

C West Hume Landcare Group, Albury, NSW 2640 Australia.
Current address: Murray Catchment Management Authority, PO Box 797, Albury, NSW 2640, Australia.

D NSW Department of Primary Industries, Albury, NSW 2640, Australia.
Current address: Murray Catchment Management Authority, PO Box 121, Holbrook, NSW 2644, Australia.

E Corresponding author. Email: bill.semple@dnr.nsw.gov.au

The Rangeland Journal 28(2) 163-173 https://doi.org/10.1071/RJ06004
Submitted: 19 January 2006  Accepted: 17 May 2006   Published: 9 November 2006

Abstract

Perennial ‘couch’ grasses that reproduce from rhizomes and or stolons have some advantages on scalded saline sites where they can reproduce in situations that are often hostile to germination and establishment of obligate seeders. Promising couch grass species from an earlier evaluation at Wagga Wagga and Manildra were Cynodon dactylon, Paspalum vaginatum, Sporobolus virginicus and, to a lesser extent, Sporobolus mitchellii. This paper reports results of a subsequent evaluation of these species as well as Eragrostis dielsii and Distichlis distichophylla at 3 other saline sites (Burrumbuttock, Cudal and Cundumbul). All accessions were established vegetatively and assessed for vigour and survival (all sites), groundcover production and its relationship with EC and pH (2 sites), biomass production, forage value and the effect of regular cutting on groundcover (1 site). S. virginicus appeared the most tolerant to saline conditions and produced high levels of groundcover and biomass but was sensitive to regular defoliation. At the 2 alkaline sites, C. dactylon and D. distichophylla generally outperformed the other accessions in terms of persistence and groundcover but appeared to be relatively low in forage value, and D. distichophylla appeared to have significant weed potential. Paspalum vaginatum produced high groundcover and relatively high biomass of moderate forage value at Burrumbuttock but performed poorly at the other sites. S. mitchellii and E. dielsii persisted on the more benign sites producing only low amounts of dry matter and groundcover and may be useful for environmental plantings where low weed potential is paramount. Despite spatially intensive testing of the topsoil chemistry, there were no obvious relationships between EC or pH and plant performance at the 2 main trial sites – a possible consequence of vegetative propagation.

Additional keywords: alkalinity, biomass, forage value, groundcover, weed potential.


Acknowledgments

Thanks to Messrs. J. Coughlan (‘Cudal Park’, Cudal) and J. Corrigan (‘Fairview’, Burrumbuttock) for supplying the land and on-going access for the trials, S. Jaensch, C. Huxtable and M. Eddie, who collected some Sporobolus accessions for us and Mrs. C. Rose for access to unpublished data. Student volunteers, Ms. E. Mendham and Mr. S. Roberton, occasionally assisted with activities at Burrumbuttock. Soil testing was carried out by Mrs. M. Rankin at Cowra and at the Department of Natural Resources’ soils laboratory at Gunnedah. Helpful comments on the manuscript were provided by Mr. P. Norman. Forage analysis of grass samples by ‘FeedTest’ was funded by part of a grant the West Hume Landcare Group received from the Sustainable Grazing from Saline Land project.


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1Except where indicated, botanic nomenclature follows that of Wheeler et al. (2002).