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RESEARCH ARTICLE

Evaluation of annual pasture legumes in northern New South Wales. 2. Trifolium and Medicago spp. and other legumes

G. M. Lodge A B 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

Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 47(5) 563-574 https://doi.org/10.1071/EA05294
Submitted: 10 November 2005  Accepted: 4 August 2006   Published: 13 April 2007

Abstract

Two studies to evaluate annual pasture legumes were sown in replicated plots near Tamworth, New South Wales. In the first (experiment 1), 24 entries were sown in 1995 and in a second study (experiment 2) 33 entries were sown in 1996. Green herbage mass (kg DM/ha) was assessed in the year of sowing (spring) and thereafter four times per year until spring 2000. Limited data were also collected to estimate maturity grading, seed yield and seedling regeneration.

For each experiment, green herbage mass data were examined using cubic smoothing splines and at the end of each study, green herbage mass values predicted from the model were used to assess the significance (P = 0.05) of differences between cultivars or lines. In spring 2000 (experiment 1), Trifolium subterraneum var. brachycalycinum cv. Clare had the highest rank of the cultivars and lines, and T. michelianum cv. Paradana the lowest (previously cultivated site). For the native pasture site, CPI 70056B subterranean clover had the highest rank and Ornithopus compressus cv. Paros the lowest.

In experiment 2, Clare had the highest rank in spring 2000 and T. resupinatum cv. Bolta had the lowest ranking. Long-term green herbage mass appeared to be strongly influenced by maturity grading, but other factors may have affected the performance of annual Medicago spp., O. compressus, T. resupinatum, and T. michelianum. Results from the current study and previous reported research indicated that T. subterraneum var. subterraneum cvv. York (evaluated as CPI 89846B) and Junee and T. subterraneum var. brachycalycinum cv. Clare performed best in northern New South Wales.


Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Brian Roworth, John Wall and Michael Honess in collecting and processing the field samples. Seed for the 1995 sowing (experiment 1) was provided by Carolyn de Koning, and for the 1996 study (experiment 2) it was supplied by Graeme Sandral. Initial financial support for experiment 1 was provided by the International Wool Secretariat (IWS) and continuing support for both experiments was provided by the NSW Department of Primary Industries (formerly NSW Agriculture).


References


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