.

The Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia is urging farmers to assess pasture legume seed banks to decide if they will need to top-up or re-sow to ensure adequate pasture cover in 2007.

Department of Agriculture and Food pasture research officer Clinton Revell said as a result of the 2006 dry season pasture cover in some areas was very low.

“Seed reserves of annual pastures hold the key to the availability of early sheep feed, as well as pasture composition,” he said.

“The more legume seed that is ready to germinate with the first rains, the higher the pasture productivity, and the greater the benefit there will be for animal and crop production.”

Dr Revell will discuss pasture needs for 2007 at the Department’s Regional Updates at Corrigin on 23 February supported by Grains Research and Development Corporation.  Pasture systems, future varieties and agronomy will also be covered at Jerramungup Regional Updates on 21 February.

Dr Revell said a low level of legume seed production in 2006 had implications for future pasture management, particularly if paddocks were cropped in 2005, the most recent year when spring conditions were conducive to good pasture seed production.

“Low seed pools, less than 100 kg/per hectare, will be reflected in poor regeneration for 2007. In this situation pastures will need intervention such as re-seeding or topping up of seed reserves to boost production,” he said.

He said seed reserves were hard to assess because of the difficulty in measuring the amount of seed buried in the soil from cropping, however, there were some simple steps farmers could follow to make an initial assessment.

“Firstly, make a quadrat from the rim of a 2L ice-cream container 16cm x 16cm. Count the pods in 5 to 10 quadrats for a paddock and then average the number. February/March is the best time for this,” he said.

“Next collect about 15 pods and check the average number of seeds per pod by gently pulling them apart. Hold them over a sheet of paper or tray because the seeds will fly out.

“Then, compare the number of pods, and seeds per pod, with the table below to give an estimation of what your paddock seed levels are like. If the seed number per pod differs from the table, then you will need to make a percentage adjustment.

Dr Revell said once a pasture assessment was completed, farmers had several options to consider.

“They can look at their choice of pasture species and cultivar and assess its function in relation to their farming system, soil type and climate.

“Low cost renovation may include under sowing a pasture legume at 1 to 2kg per hectare with 20 to 30kg per hectare of cereal to provide early feed and protect soil.

“Deferred grazing may be required to improve seedling establishment and early pasture growth, especially with a late break of season. This would mean deferring grazing until food-on-offer was about 600 to 800kg per hectare.”

Dr Revell said with all these options it was important to ensure insects were controlled to ensure pastures were able to establish successfully.

“Redlegged earth mite and lucerne flea are the main concern.

“Paddocks treated with the Timerite® spray last spring should not be troubled by earth mite, however, control measures should be considered on all other paddocks to ensure the best conditions for the growth of pastures.

“Stock withholding periods should be adhered to after application.”

Regional Crop Updates are.  

Table 1. Estimating sub-clover, medic, yellow serradella and biserrula seed reserves by counting the pods (new or surface seed only, an allowance needs to be made for any buried seed).

The news item on this page is copyright by the organization where it originated - Fair use notice

Other news from this source