Effect of tree clearing and seedbeds on the establishment, growth and population dynamics of siratro [Macroptilium atropurpureum], green panic [Panicum maximum] and signal grass [Brachiaria decumbens] oversown into a speargrass pasture [Heteropogon contortus] in south-east Queensland.
1992
Cook S.J. | Ratcliff D.
Seed mixtures were either broadcast into live speargrass pastures, into dead speargrass pastures that had been sprayed with herbicide, or sod-seeded into live speargrass pastures with minimal disturbance. The 3 seedbeds were imposed on native pastures that had been cleared of trees for 6 years, had the trees killed at sowing or where live trees remained. In studies over 4 years, pasture establishment was highest in the herbicide-treated seedbeds without live trees and lowest where seed was broadcast into undisturbed speargrass pastures where trees had been cleared 6 years before sowing, and in all seedbeds where live trees were present. In the herbicide seedbeds without live trees, lower levels of plant composition led to better seedling survival and resulted in pastures with a greater proportion of sown species. Even though siratro set seed each year, and there were a number of seedling recruitment events, after 4 years, over 97 percent of the siratro population was composed of survivors from the initial emergence.
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