GRASSLAND CONFERENCE

Grey River Argus, 14 August 1937, Page 5

GRASSLAND CONFERENCE

“KING OF WINTER GRASSES.” DUNEDIN, August 13. The agricultural value of phalaris tuberosa, a grass which has been sown on a number of properties in Canterbury and probably elsewhere during the past two years, was the subject 'of a paper by Mr I. D. Blair of Canterbury Agricultural College, at the New Zealand Grasslands Association’s Conference. This grass is being cultivated with considerable success in Australia, and its principal values are its high degree of drought resistance and its development during the autumn and early winter, when permanent grasses are dormant. Mr Blair saw that a feature of phalaris tuberosa was its ability to persist on soils of a wide range of fertility. This characteristic had not yet been fully tested in Canterbury, but it had shown good seedling development on the light dry plains near Burnham ana at Aylesbury, when sown on a fallowed and wellprepared seed bed. Under Australian conditions it had been found to thrive well on areas of 17 to 30 inches of rainfall or over, and at altitudes up to 4,000 feet. One of the outstanding features of the grass, its high degree of drought resistance, accounted for some of its popularity under certain Australian conditions, and, although the need of a drought-enduring grass was not of such concern in New Zealand, this attribute, plus the fact that the grass grew well on light soils, at least suggested the usefulness of phalaris tuberosa on some of the dry plains land.

The germination capacity of the seed was usually only moderate, and it had been found that “after-ripen-ing” was s usually necessary with phalaris tuberosa seed, especially when a seed crop had been grown in a cool, moist district or harvested under damp conditions. The seedling development was vigorous as compared with such a grass as cocksfoot, but not so vigorous as ryegrass in the seedling year. The chief reason for past failures of the grass in New Zealand lay in the fact that the susceptibility of the species to competition in the seedling year had not been generally appreciated. The presence of any form of competition, perhaps due to the sowing of this grass in a seed mixlure or through the presence ot weeds, was a serious detriment to good seedling establishment. A very critical period in the life of a newly sown Phalaris area was during the first year after sowing. Plants which survived this period and were in vigorous condition were likely to remain permanent. With this in mind grazing during period should be adopted solely in the interests of developing the Phalaris plants rather than from the point of view of seeking a high return from the pasture. The Phalaris plants would', be. firmly established by the second autumn, provided careful grazing had been practised in the seedling year. It was from then on that the great value of the grass is evident, namely, the vigorous, productive growth during autumn and early winter. lhe grass had been aptly described as e "King of Winter Grasses,” on account of the remarkable development which commences during the autumn an ( early winter, while other permanent grasses become dormnant. Growth records were being kept of six year old Ryegrass, Cocksfoot and Phalaris tuberosa plants. So far such records iiad not been completed over a penod of a year, but the relative growths during the early part of this year indicated that during the months ot March, April, May, June and July, tie Phalaris tuberosa was in a high yieid--1H„ green and succulent condition, compared with partially dormant Kvegrass and Cocksfoot. In the management and utilisax of phalaris tuberosa, the impot ...t pumts to be noted were:— (1) The use of good viable „ced preferably seed ha, vested ! sear preceding sowing See. et; Led by the Department of Agriculture was now available. K’ (2) Proper cultivation of the seed bed As for any permanent pas ure the ideal was for a seed which . ■ < arm, moist, weed-free,-and texC - , "conditions obtained after early cu - ; iwatton and a summer fallow. , ; 13) Shallow sowing of the seed ■ early in the autumn. The seed should not be sown more than half an men I deep. With such a slow estuuisnmg plan; the advantages of suwmg earis and with the seed and manure m , close contact, needed no emphasis. , > (4) The avoidance of anything but very light grazing in the seedling , year. Better establishment would be | obtained if grazing were avoided m this first year. Mr Blair said that the sowing ot clover (white or subterranean at the rate of two to three lbs. per - acre* would probably prove necessary to provide nitrogen which would be needed especially in later years. Ihe clover might be introduced at the time of sowing, but the phalaris would have a bettex* chance if the clover were introduced by broadcasting without manure after the phalar’s had been drilled. Once- the phalaris uas established, it would not be affected by the clover, but would respond to the nitrogen supplied. Managenflent of established Phalaris tuberosa should be in keeping with the two recognised features of the grass—productivity in autumn and winter, persistence and drought resistance. Phalaris tuberosa . was particularly susceptible to defoliation in the spring and early summer. The inference then was (1) for intermittent grazing from autumn to spring, (2) complete spelling during the spring and early summer when there is an abundance of feed, from the main pastures; (3) utilisation of the final development as (a) hay-cut at the early heading stages, (b) fox' seed production, or (c) as mature standing herbage. Any decrease in fertiiitj should be overcome by annual topdressing in the winter with one cwt. per acre of superphosphate and han a ton of lime in addtioin every two or three years, depending upon the nature of the soil. After a time the grass might tend to become sod bound and there might appear to b a lack of persistence. This apphed particularly to cases on light land. The sod bound condition was to be avoided by mechanical renovation, using disks in the early autumn and by the further introduction of subte ’T£‘ can clover on light land ox M te clover on the heavier land. At th.s s age these should be drilled with manure at the rate of three-quarters o a pound on a surface which had bee disced or grubbed.

“On medium to good land this grass should be of some value when sown alone in one field of the farm,

to be used for green feed for all classes of stock during autumn and winter, when the main holding fields are unproductive,” said Mr Blair. “When suitably sown on light dry land the grass certainly grows well in the seedling stage as evidenced in the fields growing at Brunham and 'Aylesbury in Canterbury. The ability of the grass to withstand dry conditions also points to its possibilities on light land Then again it grows well in association with subterranean clover. However, in spite of the fact that Phalaris tuberosa is successful on the Imht lands of Australia and although its early growth on the light lands of Canterbury has been good so far, it ’s felt that this early promise on light land may not be maintained. On such

land with the alluvial shingle very near the surface the mature development of the grass is not likely to oe so good as in the case of many of the Australian dry land areas in which there is deep silt and sand over a clay subsoil.

“The grass has not been growing under New Zealand conditions for a sufficiently long time to allow for marked enthusiasm concerning its future. In spite of the unfavourable but unjustified impressions obtained from the evidence of the local area; which have been described aoove, the attributes and features of agricultural value of the grass have been accepted and proved. If Phalaris tuberosa is managed along the lines suggested, it seems likely that this grass

will occupy a most useful even" if limited place in our grassland economy.”