Clements, B. W.

Keys, Michael J.

English

University of Kentucky

University of Kentucky UKnowledge International Grassland Congress Proceedings 21st International Grassland Congress / 8th International Rangeland Congress Effect of Four Fertiliser Regimes on the Persistence of Perennial Native Grasses Michael J. Keys Department of Primary Industries, Australia B. W. Clements Department of Primary Industries, Australia Follow this and additional works at: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc  Part of the Plant Sciences Commons, and the Soil Science Commons This document is available at https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc/21/3-1/22 The 21st International Grassland Congress / 8th International Rangeland Congress took place in Hohhot, China from June 29 through July 5, 2008. Proceedings edited by Organizing Committee of 2008 IGC/IRC Conference Published by Guangdong People's Publishing House This Event is brought to you for free and open access by the Plant and Soil Sciences at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in International Grassland Congress Proceedings by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact UKnowledge@lsv.uky.edu. 　 Multifunctional Grasslands in a Changing World 　 Volume Ⅰ 　 瞯 ]455　 瞯Grasslands/Rangelands Resources and Ecology ——— Soil‐Plant‐Animal InterrelationshipsEffect of four fertiliser regimes on the persistence of perennial native grassesM J Keys & B W Clements , NSW Dep t o f Primary Industries , Queanbeyan & Bathurst , A ustralia .Postal address : PO Box 408 , Queanbeyan , NSW 2620 A ustralia . E‐mail :mike .keys＠ dp i .nsw .gov .auKey words : Temperate perennial native grasses , persistence of native perennial grasses , native pasture fertiliser strategiesIntroduction It is of ten said that too much fertiliser will cause native grasses to die out but is it the fertiliser that causes suchlosses ? Perennial native grass pastures will generally respond to fertiliser , provided they contain a responsive legume . This isparticularly true of those with a significant component of wallaby grass ( A ustrodanthonia spp ) , microlaena ( Microlaenastipoides) or redgrass ( Bothriochloa macra ) . Garden et al . ( ２００１ ) , using wether sheep , suggests annual grasses reducewallaby grass when higher rates of fertiliser are used . This paper provides data on the persistence of several native grassesfollowing １２ years of fertiliser application at several different rates with a different livestock enterprise .Materials and methods The work was carried out on a ６６ ha site in the central tablelands of NSW ( altitude ９００m and meanannual rainfall ７９５mm) from １９９５ to ２００６ . The soils are shallow , acidic ( pH Ca ４ .２ ) and shale derived . Soil phosphorus andsulphur levels were initially very low . The pastures are dominated by wallaby grass , with microlaena , wheat grass ( Elymusscaber ) , some perennial ryegrass , subterranean clover , V ulp ia spp and sof t brome ( Bromus mollis ) . The paddocks were setstocked to enable economic data to be collected from the spring lambing , ２nd cross , prime lamb enterprise . Stocking rates wereraised on all annually fertilised paddocks to utilise the extra feed grown , yet maintain high lamb grow th rates .The�control" paddock received １２５ kg / ha single superphosphate ( ８ .６％ P & １１％ S ) every third year in line with commonpractice and carried ５ ewes/ ha . Two other paddocks received high fertiliser inputs of either water‐soluble , singlesuperphosphate ( SSP) or reactive phosphate rock ( RPR)‐４２０ kg / ha SSP or ３００ kg / ha RPR & gypsum , which provided equalamounts of S & P in １９９５ and ２５０ kg / ha/ year SSP or RPR/ sulphur blend in １９９６ and １９９７ . For the last nine years , １８０ kg /ha of the relevant products ( based on ２ kg P/ ewe carried) was applied . Two other paddocks received either １４０ kg / ha SSP or１００ kg / ha RPR annually and one other paddock only received this rate of RPR only for the first three years . This paddock hasbeen�cell grazed" with no fertiliser for the last １０ years .Before the trial commenced , permanent transect lines were established in each paddock to monitor species presence andpersistence at ten １m２ fixed quadrats using a １０ cm square mesh grid ( １０００ points / paddock) . This has been repeated annually .In addition , pasture composition is recorded every spring and autumn using the�end‐point stick" method .Results and discussion Species composition changed with the seasons and climatic conditions and end point data showed legumesin spring increased from ５％ in １９９５ to ２５％ with all high fertiliser rates , while the １ year in ３ and cell grazed paddocks onlyrose to １３％ legume . Annual grasses in spring remained relatively stable at １０％ vulpia was more prevalent in the １ year in ３and cell grazed paddocks , whereas sof t brome dominated in the high and annual input paddocks .The％ basal presence data in Table １ shows sown perennials and microlaena generally declined in all paddocks due to very dryconditions in ２００６ . Wallaby grass increased in all paddocks except the annual input ones where a sheep camp effects and excesscompetition from ryegrass adversely affected the persistence . Total native perennial counts rose ６５％ in the high input paddocksbut only ２３％ and １３％ respectively in the １ in ３ and Cell paddocksTable 1 Perennial G rass Persistence ( ％ basal p resence) over １２ years — Comparison o f Four Fertiliser Regimes .Fertiliser Regime High Input Annual Input １ in ３ Input Cell ( nil for １０ yrs)Species / Year １９９５ i２００６  １９９５ 照２００６ 寣１９９５ B２００６ �１９９５ ２００６ dAustrodanthonia ３２１ ;６２０ 耨４８６ Ё４７０ ^４２７  ５０８ 适３１８ �４１０ 6Microlaena ７５  ２２ 妹２ K２ １１ 骀２３ 湝１４８ �１３３ 6Elymus １０  ５ 晻１５ y４ ３ 父１２ 湝１８ R６ 谮Sown/Naturalised １１８ ;５４ 妹８０ y５５ 0１３０  ３９ 湝２５ R１８Conclusions These results show that wallaby grass responds positively to fertilisen whichis not detrimental euen at higt rates ,provided an appropriabe enterprise and graxing srrategy B used to controb and utrlise the grow th of annuals .ReferencesLangford et al (２００４) . Managing native pastures for agriculture and conservation . NSW DPI ISBN : ０ ７３４７ １６２０ ６ .Garden , D . et al ( ２００１) . Influence of soils and management on composition of native pastures . Aust J Ag Res ５２ , ９２５‐３６

Effect of Four Fertiliser Regimes on the Persistence of Perennial Native Grasses

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Effect of Four Fertiliser Regimes on the Persistence of Perennial Native Grasses

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