Tropical Grasslands (2005) Volume 39,182196 Pasture legume adaptation to six environments of the seasonally dry tropics of north Queensland T.J. HALL1 AND R.W. WALKER2 1Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, Roma, and 2Atherton, Queensland, Australia Abstract
Production, regeneration and persistence of
summer-growing pasture legumes were studied in
plots (26 accessions) in 3 sub-coastal environments
(>600 m elevation) and in rows (92 accessions) in
3 inland environments (<200 m elevation) in the
seasonally dry tropics of north Queensland. In the
plots, the annuals Aeschynomene americana and
Centrosema pascuorum and the perennials Stylosanthes
scabra, S. hamata and Chamaecrista
rotundifolia were most productive, yielding up to
4.5 and 7.6 t/ha DM, respectively, on grey and
red earths and a red duplex soil. Annuals regenerated
poorly in low rainfall years, but populations
and production of the Stylosanthes species and
C. rotundifolia cv. Wynn remained adequate for
commercial pastures in all years, and increased
in a high rainfall year. Macroptilium gracile cv.
Maldonado was planted at only one site and produced
a peak yield of 6.2 t/ha DM and had most
spread (>30 m) during the experiment.
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