Forage production of the drought tolerant Mediterranean forage legume tedera (Bituminaria bituminosa var. albomarginata) in the mediumrainfall zone of south Western Australia as affected by plant density and cutting frequency
Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publication Date
2012
Conference Title
Options Mediterraneennes, A, no. 102, 2012 ñ New approaches for grassland research in a context of climate and socio-economic changes
Keywords
Bituminaria, Tedera, Cutting frequency, Plant density
Disciplines
Agronomy and Crop Sciences
Abstract
The Mediterranean perennial forage legume tedera (B. bituminosa var. albomarginata) remains green all-year-round, reducing the summer/autumn feed gap, providing high quality forage when most other pasture options have senesced. At Mount Barker Research Station in south Western Australia (annual rainfall 2010/11 of 445 mm), the forage production of two tedera accessions (T1 and T6) was studied under densities of 1, 2, 4, 8 and 16 plants m-2 and cutting frequencies of 1, 2, 3 and 4 times yr-1. The experimental design was a split-split-plot with 4 replicates. The first two years of the experiment were kept weed-free and results are presented for the second year. The density and cutting frequency were the only highly significant effects. Densities of both 8 and 16 plants m-2 provided the greatest forage yield of 5.8 tonnes DM year-1 , while densities of 1, 2 and 4 plants m-2 produced 2.1, 2.4 and 4.5 tonnes DM year-1 respectively. The cutting frequency of 1 yielded best with 5.8 tonnes DM year-1 followed by 2, 3 and 4 cuttings with annual productions of 4.1, 3.7 and 2.8 tonnes DM respectively. In this environment, forage produced using densities of 8 to 16 plants m-2 can be accumulated and used at strategic times of the year to reduce the costs associated with supplementary feeding.
Recommended Citation
Real D., Kidd D. Forage production of the drought tolerant Mediterranean forage legume tedera (Bituminaria bituminosa var. albomarginata) in the mediumrainfall zone of south Western Australia as affected by plant density and cutting frequency . In : Acar Z. (ed.), López-Francos A. (ed.), Porqueddu C. (ed.). New approaches for grassland research in a context of climate and socio-economic changes. Zaragoza : CIHEAM, 2012. p. 387-390 (Options Méditerranéennes : Série A. Séminaires Méditerranéens; n. 102)
