PASTURE TOP-DRESSING TEST AT MARTON.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume XXVII, Issue 5, 20 November 1923, Page 316

PASTURE TOP-DRESSING TEST AT MARTON.

In 1921 a small section of 2| chains square, at Marton Junction, was divided into plots and top-dressed by the Department with several different kinds of fertilizers. The section, consisting of the typical heavy Marton soil, had been down in permanent pasture for a considerable number of years without anything in the way of top-dressing having been done. The result was that the better grasses and clovers had practically disappeared, and had been replaced by florin and such weeds as catsear, plantain, &c. The object of top-dressing the section was to ascertain what effect the treatment would have in bringing back the better grasses and clovers which were present to a small extent.

The section was divided into seven plots, and the manures applied carefully by hand. The following were applied —the three first in July and the others in August, 1921: (1) Ephos phosphate, at 4 cwt. per acre ; (2) Nauru rock phosphate, at 4 cwt.; (3) Basic slag, at 4 cwt.; (4) Walpole Island phosphate, at 4 cwt. ; (5) bone char, at 4 cwt. ; (6) carbonate of lime (1 ton) and superphosphate (2 cwt.), each per acre. The seventh plot was left as a control.

All the dressings had a beneficial effect on the pasture to a more or less extent. The first to show effects was the lime-and-super mixture. When compared with the control plot the effect of the top-dressing was very marked. The section was cut for hay on 7th January, 1922. It was intended to take weighings of green material

off the respective plots, but owing to the absence of the writer from the district this was not done.

. During the season 1922-23 the effect of the dressings was carefully watched, and it was noticed that the clover content of the pasture improved considerably on all plots with the exception of the control. This area had practically no bottom grasses or clovers, the bottom consisting mostly of /catsear, plantain, &c. The section was cut for hay on 19th January, 1923. Prior to this, average areas were selected, and the green material off these carefully weighed. The weights per acre obtained from the respective plots were as follows : (1) Ephes phosphate, 7 tons 4 cwt. ; (2) Nauru rock phosphate, 5 tons 2 cwt. ; (3) basic slag, 7 tons 11 cwt. ; (4) Walpole Island phosphate, 6 tons 15 cwt.; (5) bone char, 5 tons 12 cwt.; (6) lime and super, 5 tons 18 cwt.; (7) control plot, 4 tons 6 cwt.

It will be seen that all the top-dressings gave an increased yield for the second season over the control area, ranging from 18 per cent, to 75 per cent.

— C. H. Schwass,

Fields Division.