Establishing Native Grasses in Degraded Pastures of Central Western New South Wales.

Abstract

Renewed interest in native grasses in recent years has led to the release of a small number of cultivars but for most native species, seed is only available from wild stands. Seed can be harvested with a brush harvester but cleaning seed to a level that will allow it to pass through conventional sowing equipment is often difficult. Techniques for successful field establishment of native species are still not fully understood. From 1993 to 1995, native grasses (mainly warm-season types) were sown in early spring in exotic pastures at a number of sites in the Central West of NSW. Various seedbed types, sowing methods and species were evaluated in six experiments. In five of the experiments, establishment was low for most species - a result attributed primarily to weed competition. At one site in 1994, however, the combination of a cultivated seedbed, 18 months of pre-sowing weed control, relatively low soil fertility and a high sowing rate resulted in high emergence of most species and acceptable survival of Paspalidium jubi$orum, Themeda australis and to a lesser extent, Chloris ventricosa and C. truncata. Key words: exotic species, native species, emergence, survival, seedbed, weed control.