Establishment and growth of sheep's burnet in the lower North Island of New Zealand

Abstract

Spring establishment and herbage production of sheep's burnet (~ang~isorba mino: ssp. muricata) were compared with blf?sfoot tre~011 (Lotus corniculatus) and lucerne (Medicago sativa) at Riverside in the lower North Island of New Zealand. The trial includedbinary mixturesof sheep's burnet and the legumes. Emergence of similar swards was also investigated at Flock House, a warmer site, in the lower North Island. Emergence of the three species was similar at each site but for sheep's burnet at Flock House (66.2%), it was greater than that at Riverside (26.5%). Both legumes emerged faster than sheep's burnet with lucerne being the quickest. The results suggested that sheep's burnet is best sown alone or with other slowly emerging species. Early foliar dry weight and leaf area of sheep's burnet and lucerne were similar and greater than that of birdsfoot trefoil. However, over three summer mowings (7-8 em high), total herbage mass for all pure and mixed swards was similar and averaged 6.3 t DM/ha. Sheep's burnet provided useful ground cover and forage mass.

Establishment of perennial species useful for soil conservation and as forages

“…Emergence of all species occurred, but to varying extents and at different rates. The complete (100%) emergence of S. minor was unique among all species and was higher than earlier estimates from field (26-66%) and glasshouse (54%) studies (Douglas et al 1990. The reason(s) for the highly successful emergence were uncertain, but warm soil temperatures were probably a major factor, as indicated in an earlier study where emergence increased from 26% at one site to 66% at a warmer site (Douglas et al 1990).…”

“…Lucerne field emergence (64%) was similar to or higher than other estimates (Wynn-Williams 1982; Douglas et al 1990) whereas that for L. corniculatus (8%) was less than or equal to those experienced with other cultivars of the species (Fraser & Keoghan 1989;Woodman et al 1990). Field emergence of L. polyphyllus (14%) was less than that found for the closely related Russell lupin (L. polyphyllus X L. arboreus) from surface and shallow sowings in the South Island (35^45%) (Wangdi et al 1990) The Dorycnium species are receiving increasing attention (Sheppard & Douglas, 1986;Chapman et al 1989;Wills et al 1989) for revegetating lowfertility, dryland sites, and this study showed that their emergence and survival were often equal to those of the other legumes examined, for example L. corniculatus and L. polyphyllus (Table 3).…”

“…D. glomerata, F. arundinacea (Lambrechtsen 1986a;Chapman et al 1989), and S. minor (Sheppard & Wills 1985;Douglas et al 1990) are already acknowledged as suitable for these purposes. The grasses also had an advantage over the other species in the trial in that they maintained or increased their ground cover under cutting in the second year (Fig.…”

“…Perennial species investigated for soil conservation/revegetation in New Zealand include birdsfoot trefoil (Scott & Charlton 1983), the canary clovers (Sheppard & Douglas 1986;Wills et al 1989), cicer milkvetch (Rys et al 1988), perennial lupin (Lambrechtsen 1986b;Scott 1989), sheep's burnet (Douglas et al 1990), the wheatgrasses (Wills 1986), and numerous other grass species. Most of these species are suitable for low-moderately fertile sites and are moderately-highly tolerant of soil moisture deficits, sometimes for prolonged periods.…”

Effect of genotype and seed size on early vegetative growth of sheep's burnet

“…This study was a sequel to field emergence and establishment studies involving sheep's burnet from Oregon, U.S.A (Douglas et al 1990) where seed was not separated for size.…”