Dry matter production and botanical composition of four pasture species and their seed mixtures after an autumn sowing

Abstract

The majority of New Zealand pastoral agriculture is based around white clover and perennial ryegrass. These pastures a generally well suited to the majority of New Zealand. However these pastures often fail to perform at crucial periods, such as in summer when pasture growth and quality is vital to finish livestock. The inclusion of summer active pasture species with high pasture quality could provide a solution to poor summer production from white clover-perennial ryegrass pastures. A field experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of different pasture mixtures and sowing strategies on the yield and composition of sown species over an establishment period of 7 months from an autumn sowing. The sown species included tetraploid ryegrass, white clover, plantain and red clover were used in a number of pasture mixture combinations. The experiment was conducted at Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand from the 26th of March to the 22nd of September 2015. Accumulated yield from sowing to the 22nd of September was significantly different over the 23 pasture mixtures. Sowing pasture mixtures with proportions, of tetraploid perennial ryegrass and/or plantain of 50% or more results in high accumulated yields between 3000 – 3900 kg DM/ha. White and red clover pure swards produced poor yields <2000 kg DM/ha and had high weed content (0.6 weed proportion of total yield). Pasture mixtures were dominated by ryegrass and plantain even when clover composed 50% of the seed mixture. Alternate drill row sowing produced small improvements in white clover proportions, but accumulated yield was not affected.