A review of grass species yields and growth rates in Northland, New Zealand

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© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

Table 1. Details of the four Northland units used to group the grass datasets.

Unit name	Area in Northland *	Physiographic description ^#	Effective rainfall mm/year^@*	Data points
Kaitaia	Far north, Ahipara to Mangōnui	Undulating to steep terrain	806	435
Kaikohe	Kaikohe westward to Omapere	Undulating to steep terrain and uplifted greywacke	804	831
Whangarei	Upper east coast – Kerikeri to Maungawhai	Floodplains, old volcanic steepland, sand country and sedimentary terrain	752	1224
Dargaville	Lower Northland, west coast from Dargaville to Murawai	Uplifted greywacke, young basaltic volcanic	723	1491

* For more information see Teixeira et al. (2023), ^# Harmsworth (1996), ^@ Effective rainfall = annual rainfall – annual drainage/runoff.

Table 2. Grass species, Northland unit (Kaitaia = 1; Kaikohe = 2; Whangarei = 3, Dargaville = 4), cultivars, and the reference details from the gathered datasets from Northland.

Species	Unit	Latin Name	Cultivar	Reference
Bermuda grass	1	Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers.	Coastcross	(Rumball 1991)
Bermuda grass			Cy6 135	(Davies and Hunt 1983)
Cocksfoot	1,2,3,4	Dactylis glomerata L.	SF Greenly II	(McCahon et al. 2021)
Cocksfoot	2		Apanui	(Lambert et al. 1973)
Italian ryegrass	1,3,4	Lolium multiflorum Lam.	Tabu	(Wynn et al. 2011)
Annual ryegrass	2	Lolium rigidum	Tama	(Betteridge and Haynes 1986)
Kikuyu	1,2,3,4	(Chenchrus clandestinum Hochst. ex Chiov. Morrone)	local ecotype	(Davies and Hunt 1983)
Limpo grass	1, 2	Hemarthria altissima [Poir] Stapf	Bigalta	(Davies and Hunt 1983; Rumball 1989; Woods et al. 1995)
Limpo grass			Floralta	(Rumball 1989)
Nile grass	1,4	Acroceras macrum Stapf	Cedera Special	(Davies and Hunt 1983)
Pangola grass	1	Digitaria eriantha Steud.	CQ911	(Rumball 1991)
Pangola grass			Slenderstem	(Davies and Hunt 1983)
Paspalum	2,3	Paspalum dilatatum Poir	G15	(Piggot 1984)
Phalaris	2	Phalaris aquatica L.	Maru	(Betteridge and Baker 1983)
Perennial ryegrass	1,2,3,4	Lolium perenne L.	AR1	(Keogh and Blackwell 2001)
Perennial ryegrass			Ariki	(Lambert et al. 1969; Lambert et al. 1973; Lambert et al. 1974; Lambert et al. 1979)
Perennial ryegrass			Base	(Ussher and Hume 2015)
Perennial ryegrass			Easton	(Ussher and Hume 2015)
Perennial ryegrass			Ellet	(Ritchie 1986)
Perennial ryegrass			Nui	(Percival 1980) (Steele and Dawson 1980) (Davies and Hunt 1983) (Easton and Couchman 1999) (Ritchie 1986) (Piggot 1984) (Betteridge and Baker 1983)
Perennial ryegrass			Ruanui	(Piggot 1984)
Perennial ryegrass			One50 AR37	Agricom (unpublished)
Perennial ryegrass			Prospect	(McCahon et al. 2021); Agricom (unpublished)
Perennial ryegrass			Request AR37	Agricom (unpublished)
Perennial ryegrass			Rohan Nea2/6	Agricom (unpublished)
Perennial ryegrass			Stellar AR1	Agricom (unpublished)
Perennial ryegrass			Trojan Nea 2/6	Agricom (unpublished)
Prairie grass	1	Bromus willdenowii Kunth	Matua	(Ussher 1986) (Betteridge and Baker 1983)
South African pigeon grass	1,2	Setaria sphaceolata L.	Narok	(Rumball 1991)
South African pigeon grass			du Toits Kraal	(Davies and Hunt 1983)
Tall fescue	1,2,3,4	Festuca arundinacea Schreber	Hummer	(McCahon et al. 2021)
Tall fescue			Quantum II	(Ussher and Hume 2015)
Tall fescue			Roa	(Ritchie 1986)
Weeping love grass	1	Eragrostis curvula [Schrad.] Nees	CPI 59808	(Davies and Hunt 1983)

Figure 1. Percentage (%) of the total gathered datapoints from Northland grass species. ‘Others’ correspond to Limpo grass, Meadow fescue, Nile grass, Prairie grass and Weeping love grass.

Figure 2. Mean monthly growth rate (kg DM/ha/d) of perennial ryegrass dominant pastures at sites near Kaitaia (A), Kaikohe (B), Whangarei (C), and Dargaville (D). The error bar represents the pooled mean standard deviation. This figure was generated from 14 published and 3 unpublished datasets (https://www.agyields.co.nz, see Supplement 1 for details) (Baars 1976; Steele 1976; Piggot et al. 1978; Goold 1980; Ledgard et al. 1982; Rumball 1983; Taylor and Hunt 1983).

Figure 3. Mean monthly growth rate (kg DM/ha/d) of Italian ryegrass dominant pastures in Kaitaia, Whangarei and Dargaville. The error bar represents the pooled (sites x year) mean standard deviation. Figure generated from 1 published dataset (Wynn et al.,2011, https://www.agyields.co.nz/dataset/215) and 1 unpublished dataset (Ussher, G., https://www.agyields.co.nz/dataset/449).

Figure 4. Mean monthly growth rate (kg DM/ha/d) of cocksfoot dominant pastures at Kaikohe. Average ± 1 standard deviation lines (StdPlus, StdMinus) are shown. Figure generated from 1 published dataset (Lambert et al. 1973, https://www.agyields.co.nz/dataset/248).

Figure 5. Mean monthly growth rate (kg DM/ha/d) of tall fescue dominant pastures at Kaitaia (A), Whangarei (B), and Dargaville (C). The error bar represents the pooled (sites x year) standard deviation. Kaitaia and Whangarei data for July, September, November, January, March, May months. Figure generated from 1 published dataset (McCahon et al. 2021; https://www.agyields.co.nz/dataset/154) and 1 unpublished dataset (Ussher G; https://www.agyields.co.nz/dataset/377).

Figure 6. Mean monthly growth rate (kg DM/ha/d) of kikuyu dominant pastures at Kaitaia (A), Whangarei (B), and Dargaville (C). The error bar represents the pooled (sites x year) mean standard deviation. Figure generated from 6 published datasets including Piggot and Morgan (1987) and 4 unpublished datasets (https://www.agyields.co.nz, see Supplement 1 for details).

Figure 7. Growth rates of a kikuyu based pasture at Dargaville (no nitrogen treatments). Data digitised from Figure 2 in Piggot (1988). Cages placed 5 times per year and herbage cut twice afterwards. Spline curve based on Cut 2 data to highlight the seasonal growth pattern.

Figure 8. Mean monthly growth rate (kg DM/ha/d) of paspalum dominant pastures at Whangarei. Average ± 1 standard deviation lines (StdPlus, StdMinus) are shown Figure generated from Piggot (1984), https://www.agyields.co.nz/dataset/223.

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