Pasture formulation for optimised yield and weed suppression under sheep grazing and irrigation in Canterbury
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33584/jnzg.2024.86.3690Abstract
Farmers need evidence to make informed decisions about which species to sow when renewing a pasture. This study aimed to formulate a pasture from a diverse pool of six species. At Lincoln University, 69 monocultures and mixtures varying widely in sown number and proportions of perennial ryegrass, cocksfoot, plantain, white clover, red clover and subterranean clover were examined under sheep grazing and irrigation for 4 years. On average annual total dry matter (DM) yield increased and weed DM yield decreased with increases in number of species, but species’ proportions determined the optimal pasture that maximised yield and weed suppression. For example, on average six-species pastures had 1.6 t/ha more total yield and 1.8 t/ha less weed yield than twospecies
pastures (12.1 and 3.1 t/ha) in Year 1. However, several pastures of equal number of species had both above-average total and below-average weed yields in each year, emphasising the importance of species identity. A diversity-interaction model predicted that sown proportions of 50% ryegrass and 25% each of white and red clovers maximised annual yield and weed suppression (14.1 and 0.3 t/ha). These seed ratios were equivalent to 9.7, 1.3 and 9.0 kg/ha respectively for a total sowing rate of 20 kg/ha.
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