Lifting Leucaena adoption in north Queensland

Abstract

The introduction and successful establishment of leucaena has the potential to double annual live-weight gains and increase carrying capacity for beef enterprises.

The low rate of adoption of leucaena by graziers across north Queensland appears to be linked closely to establishment costs, potential frost impact in some areas, tree clearing regulations, low confidence in plant establishment and the impact of psyllid attack on productivity.

The Producer Demonstration Site (PDS) at Whitewater Station, near Mount Surprise, included both a 40 ha site aimed at improving industry understanding of establishment costs and options, as well as a one hectare replicated experiment to assess the palatability of new leucaena lines bred specifically for psyllid resistance.

The leucaena planting on a 40 ha lightly timbered site was fully established in mid-2016 enabling assessment of management requirements and potential productivity-profitability gains on uncleared land.

The palatability assessment of the four new psyllid tolerant lines was conducted by the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) and the University of Queensland (UQ) in December 2014 and May 2016. With the aid of this data, all four lines were confirmed to be palatable with Line 12 (Redlands) selected and released to commercial partners.

Based on these preliminary study results, UQ and Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) proceeded to commercialise the Redlands variety by contracting two seed producers in Central Queensland. Commercial seed is now available for producers to plant in the 2019 growing season.