The evaluation of tropical legumes for use in ley pastures in central and southern Queensland

Abstract

Soil fertility decline in the northern grain belt has resulted in corresponding declines in grain yield and quality. One option to overcome this decline is through the incorporation of ley or phase pastures into the cropping system. A range of tropical species are currently being evaluated as either self-regenerating annuals or perennial ley pasture legumes for central (CQ) and southern (SQ) Queensland. Several new accessions have regenerated from seedlings and may provide self -regenerating annuals for use as ley legumes. C. pascuorum has consistently been a high yielding accession in both CQ and SQ and has the ability to regenerate strongly from seed. Other accessions which are promising as regenerating annuals include V. oblongifolia CPI 121699. The most outstanding perennial species was M. bracteatum and within that species, CPI 55769 was the most promising. Other strongly persisting species were D. virgatus, C. ternatea and M. atropurpureum. Further studies are now being undertaken to develop management options for the most promising of these legumes.