Forage-pasture production in the first three years of an agroforestry experiment

Abstract

Forage production from a newly established pine-pasture system at 1000 trees per ha and pasture alone was compared. Pastures of ryegrass/clover, cocksfoot/clover, phalaris/clover and lucerne were used. Overall, forage production varied little between the grass/clover pastures and was little affected by the pine trees except for the 14% reduction in pasture area in the trees because of herbicide-treated planting strips. Lucerne production between the trees was similar to that of the grass/clover pastures but in the open pasture, lucerne yielded a total of 29.5 t DM/ha compared with 22 t DM/ha from grass/clover treatments. Pasture growth within 1 m of the trees in the third summer was reduced by as much as 40%, indicating that competitive dominance was shifting in favour of the pines.