INTRODUCTION OF LUCERNE INTO ACID SOILS

Abstract

IT IS WELL KNOWN that the key to pasture improvement in the tussock country of the South Island is in the introduction of high-producing legumes. White, red and alsike clovers have been widely used with considerable success. Lucerne, as yet, is much less important, even though it has been shown by Iversen ( 196.5) that on droughty soils it can produce much more dry matter than conventional pastures. One of the main reasons for the lesser use of lucerne is the difficulty in establishing the plant by surface sowing methods, particularly in acid soils. On the high pH brown-grey earths of Central Otago, lucerne can be sod-seeded into scabweed country quite successfully (Ludecke, 1962) and large areas have been sown by this means. On the more acid yellow-grey and yellow-brown earths, however, with denser plant cover, lucerne is commonly established only by conventional methods of cultivation and broadcast liming, even though there is considerable scope for its extended introduction into droughty situations by cheaper means.