| Popis: |
The autumn establishment of lucerne with herbicides and cover crops of turnips, green-feed barley, ‘Grasslands Tama’ ryegrass was studied in two trials under irrigation at Winchmore. Under good grazing management, autumn-sown lucerne was shown to withstand severe competition during the autumn-winter period and still attain, at the end of the first or start of the second season, a yield similar to that of lucerne sown without a cover crop. However, if heavy competition had been withstood during winter, freedom from this in the early spring seemed necessary for retention of a lucerne population sufficient to give early resumption of high production. It was concluded that if lucerne is to be autumn sown, a cover crop which ceases active growth by early spring should be used rather than herbicides. The former increased herbage production in the first 18 months and had no harmful effect on later production, whereas herbicides had a negligible effect on herbage production throughout the trial. |
