The search for new pasture plants to achieve more sustainable production systems in southern Australia
B. S. Dear A C D and M. A. Ewing B CA EH Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation (NSW Department of Primary Industries – Charles Sturt University), Pine Gully Road, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2650, Australia.
B Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia, Locked Bag 4, Bentley Delivery Centre, WA 6983, Australia.
C CRC for Plant-based Management of Dryland Salinity, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
D Corresponding author. Email: brian.dear@dpi.nsw.gov.au
Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 48(4) 387-396 https://doi.org/10.1071/EA07105
Submitted: 23 April 2007 Accepted: 15 October 2007 Published: 7 March 2008
Abstract
Increasing the proportion of the landscape planted to deep-rooted perennial pasture species is recognised as one of several remedial actions required for the control of dryland salinity in southern Australia. The widespread use of perennials in farming systems is limited at present by the lack of well-adapted perennials that can be grown to reduce recharge in a landscape where drought, soil acidity, temporary waterlogging, infertile soils and unrestricted grazing prohibit the use of many species. The range of plants adapted to salinity also needs to be expanded to stabilise and ameliorate soils already degraded by rising watertables and to increase the profitability of grazing discharge regions within the landscape.
This paper describes the steps involved in a national forage screening and breeding program initiated by the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Plant-based Management of Dryland Salinity1, seeking to expand the range of perennial and or salt-tolerant forage plants that can be incorporated into farming systems of southern Australia. It describes the target environments, soil constraints, farming systems and the criteria being considered when assessing the potential of new plants, including assessment of the weed risk posed by introducing new species. This paper forms an introduction to a special issue which presents the outcomes of the pasture species field evaluation and plant breeding program conducted by the CRC.
Additional keywords: perennial legumes, plant evaluation, salt-tolerant species.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Ms Elizabeth Wheeler for drawing Fig. 2.
Ayres JF,
Kelman WM,
Wiedemann SG,
Lane LA, McCorkell BE
(2008) Developing birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.) varieties for permanent pasture applications in low latitude regions of eastern Australia. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 48, 488–498.
[Verified 30 January 2008]
Boschma SP,
Lodge GM, Harden S
(2008) Herbage mass and persistence of pasture legumes and grasses at two potentially different saline and waterlogging sites in northern New South Wales. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 48, 553–567.
[Verified 30 January 2008]
Latta RA,
Blacklow LJ, Cocks PS
(2001) Comparative soil water, pasture production, and crop yields in phase farming systems with lucerne and annual pasture in Western Australia. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 52, 295–303.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
[Verified 17 January 2008]
Masters DG,
Norman HC, Dynes RA
(2001) Opportunities and limitations for animal production from saline land. Asian-Australian Journal of Animal Science 14, 199–211.
[Verified 25 January 2008]
Stone LM,
Byrne M, Virtue JG
(2008) An environmental weed risk assessment model for Australian forage improvement programs. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 48, 568–574.
Wallace KJ
(2006) A decision framework for natural resource management: a case study using plant introductions. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 46, 1397–1405.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Ward PR,
Dunnin FX, Micin SF
(2001) Water balance of annual and perennial pastures on a duplex soil in a Mediterranean environment. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 52, 203–209.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Warren BE,
Casson T, Abbott DW
(1996) A preliminary study of sheep production from pastures on waterlogged and moderately saline land. Proceedings of the Australian Society of Animal Production 21, 177–180.
Waters CM,
Garden DL,
Smith AB,
Friend DA,
Sanford P, Auricht GC
(2005) Performance of native and introduced grasses for low-input pastures. 1. Survival and recruitment. Rangelands Journal 27, 23–39.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
1 The CRC for Plant-based Management of Dryland Salinity is a partnership of State Department of Agricultures, CSIRO and Universities, which was established to cooperatively research, educate and develop strategies to mitigate the effects of dryland salinity.
2 Recharge areas are those parts of the landscape where excess rainfall drains past the root-zone and reaches the watertable.
3 Discharge areas are parts of the landscape where water flows out from an aquifer or from groundwater through the soil surface.
