Establishment of ryegrass, cocksfoot, and white clover by oversowing in hill country 2. Sown species and total herbage accumulation

Abstract

Herbage accumulation of ryegrass, cocksfoot, white clover, and total pasture was measured during the second (1982–83) and third (1983–84) years after oversowing these species in moderate-fertility, summer-moist hill country. ‘Grasslands Nui’ ryegrass + ‘Grasslands Huia’ white clover, and ‘Grasslands Wana’ cocksfoot + ‘Grasslands Huia’ white clover mixes were sown into 5 sward treatments. Unsown swards of each treatment were included as controls. Cocksfoot herbage production and proportion of sward content were high (49.3 and 33.6% of total dry matter (DM) for the respective years) in plots sprayed with herbicide before sowing, but negligible in unsprayed swards. Ryegrass herbage production and proportion of sward content were also high (45.0% of total DM) in all treatments, except lax grazing, during 1982–83. Important differences in species persistence occurred — sown ryegrass largely disappeared early in the third year after sowing, whereas cocksfoot persisted reasonably well. Sowing cocksfoot or ryegrass did not increase annual or seasonal pasture production above unsown sward levels, irrespective of pre-sowing sward treatment. The value of introducing new grass cultivars into summer-moist hill country at moderate levels of fertility is therefore questionable, though further data are required to fully assess the impact on hill farm productivity.

Keywords:

• establishment
• hill country
• perennial ryegrass
• Lolium perenne
• cocksfoot
• Dactylis glomerata
• white clover
• Trifolium repens
• pasture production