The key to pasture improvement
in the tussock country of the South Island is in the introduction
of high-producing legumes. White, red and alsike
clovers have been widely used with considerable success.
Lucerne, as yet, is much less important, even though it
has been shown by Iversen (1965) that on droughty soils
it can produce much more dry matter than conventional
pastures. One of the main reasons for the lesser use of
lucerne is the difficulty in establishing the plant by surface
sowing methods, particularly in acid soils. Lucerne is particularly sensitive to acid soil conditions
which affect establishment and growth in several ways. There are two possible approaches to overcoming problems
of establishing lucerne on acid soils. The usual
method is to modify the soil environment to suit the plant,
by heavy broadcast liming. This is often uneconomic in
tussock country owing to high transport costs. Another
approach is to select strains of R. meliloti and species of
lucerne which are more tolerant of acid soils. The latter
approach has distinct possibilities, but, at present, it is a
relatively new field.
At Lincoln College an attempt is being made to combine
both approaches in overcoming establishment problems
in the tussock country.[Show full abstract]
![[PDF]](/themes/LURA/images/mimes/b_pdf.png "PDF file"){kind=small}
