Performance of grasses on cultivated hill country in North Canterbury

Abstract

Abstract On a cultivated rendzina soil on sunny aspect steep hill country in North Canterbury, either ‘Grasslands Nui’ ryegrass, ‘Grasslands Maru’ phalaris, ‘Grasslands Matua’ prairie grass, or a mixture of the 3 grasses was sown with lucerne and white clover in 15 cm drills. The resulting swards were mostly grass because the legumes didn't establish well in a dry autumn. The objective was to determine effects of grazing management of pasture into and out of the summer drought period. Swards were closed to grazings at the onset of summer drought or 2–6 weeks later. After the summer spelling, there were 2 timings of resumption of grazing (mid-late March after autumn rains, and a month later). The third year's results were influenced by a wet spring precluding different closing times, and by a dry autumn. Highest herbage yield was 11.66 t dry matter/ha in the first year, 11.24 in the second year, and 5.74 in the third year. Matua was usually the highest-yielding species. Maru gave a similar yield to Nui in the second and third years. Matua eventually dominated in the mixed species swards. The timing of closing treatments did not usually influence the succeeding resumption treatments and vice versa. Delay in closing or in resumption of grazing gave higher yield for Matua which grows well into dry and cool weather conditions.