On-farm demonstrations of low-input methods for establishing legumes in central Queensland

Abstract

In 2010 a three year Meat and Livestock Australia funded Producer Demonstration Site (PDS) was established to demonstrate low-input sowing strategies for achieving legume establishment in buffel grass (Pennisetum ciliare) pastures in central Queensland. Butterfly pea (Clitoria ternatea), burgundy bean (Macroptillium bracteatum) and siratro (Macroptillium atropurpureum cv. siratro and cv. Aztec atro) were sown by broadcast, direct drill and crocodile seeder methods. Intensive herd impact applied immediately post sowing was trialled to determine if seed germination and establishment would benefit from animal induced soil disturbance. Treatments with soil disturbance at sowing (direct drill and crocodile seeder) recorded
higher first year legume numbers than broadcasting. Despite excellent rainfall in the first two years of the trial, strong population declines across all treatments were recorded in subsequent years, with similar plant populations per hectare recorded between treatments at the conclusion of the trial. The results from the application of herd impact were inconclusive. Siratro was the only species to persist within the buffel grass dominated pastures. This trial demonstrated that low-input sowing methods with little or no removal of grass competition achieved poor plant populations. Industry needs to adopt longer fallow management for moisture storage and control of grass when establishing legumes into existing grass pastures.