The effect of degradation of phalaris + white clover pasture on soil water regimes of a Brown Chromosol on the Northern Tablelands of NSW, Australia

Abstract

The soil water regimes of a Brown Chromosol in response to drying and wetting are reported under three pastures types that were grazed all year long. The study was conducted at the Big Ridge 2 site near Armidale, on the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales (NSW) between 1994 and 1998. The three pasture types were degraded pasture (dominated by annual species), a phalaris dominant pasture, and an improved pasture containing phalaris + white clover. This study was conducted to assess the hydrological implications of losing perennial pasture species from the high rainfall (summer dominant) zone of south-eastern Australia. Pasture active rooting depth, water use and extraction during drying periods, and the ability of the soil profile to store water during wet periods were evaluated for each pasture type. Pasture active rooting depth, which affects water use, varied with season and water availability. During a typical autumn drying period between 1 and 22 March 1996, the phalaris + white clover pasture with an active rooting depth down to 100 cm used 46 ± 3.9 mm of water, with 16% of this extracted from the 55–130 cm zone. In the same period, the degraded and the phalaris pasture with active rooting depths of ≤60 cm used 30.7 ± 5.2 and 23.6 ± 7.9 mm of water, respectively, all from the surface 0–55 cm zone. However, under extreme drought conditions such as those in spring and early summer 1997 and autumn 1998, no differences in water use were detected between pastures. Pasture water use during dry periods affects the amount of water that can be stored in the soil profile and the potential amount of water loss during subsequent wet periods. In any wet period, the increase in soil water storage was greater in the 0–55 cm depth than in the 55–130 cm zone. For example, between 24 January and 14 February 1997 with total rainfall of 203 mm, water storage in the 0–55 cm zone was increased by 104.4 ± 6.7 mm under the phalaris + white clover pasture compared with 86.4 ± 4.3 and 84.4 ± 3.3 mm for the degraded and the phalaris pastures, respectively. The water storage increase in the 55–130 cm zone was not different between pastures (<12 mm). It was concluded that without appropriate grazing management and the presence of the legume component, the phalaris based pasture became unstable and failed to persist. The decline in the phalaris pasture caused invasion of annual species and weeds resulting in low water use, similar to that of the degraded pasture. In contrast, the combination of white clover and phalaris pasture showed a greater potential to maintain the phalaris component and a greater total biomass, and so was able to extract more water and from deeper parts of the soil profile. The vigorous phalaris + white clover pasture has greater potential to store more water than the degraded pasture and the phalaris pasture without legumes in the summer dominant rainfall area of temperate Australia. Therefore, maintaining pasture in good condition should be the main objective for sustainability of a grazing system in this region.