Yield and water use of lucerne and two lucerne/grass mixtures

Abstract

A study was conducted on pure WL320 luceme, luceme/'Grasslands Matua' prairie grass and lucerne/'Grasslands Maru' phalaris mixtures at Lincoln University, between March 20 and April 7, 1991. The 0.042 ha plots were sown in early November 1986 into a Templeton fine sandy loam soil. Irrigation immediately before the study started attempted to bring plots to field capacity.

The results showed no significant differences in dry matter yields, total water use and water use efficiency between the three pasture types. Although not significant dry matter production was higher in pure lucerne (58 kgDMha⁻¹d⁻¹) than lucerne/prairie grass (51 kgDMha⁻¹d⁻¹) and lucerne/phalaris (45 kgDMha⁻¹d⁻¹). Water use efficiency was 14.1, 12.3 and 10.2 kgDMha⁻¹mm⁻¹H₂O for pure luceme, lucerne/prairies grass and lucerne/phalaris respectively. Deep soils produced more dry matter (56 vs 47 kgDMha⁻¹d⁻¹) and had a higher water use efficiency (12.7 vs 11.7 kgDMha⁻¹mm⁻¹H₂O) than shallow soils although these differences were not significant.