Pasture legume choices, establishment and persistence for the Murray Plains

TRIAL MANAGER: Richard Porter, AgXtra

FUNDER: SA Grain Industry Trust (SAGIT), Murraylands and Riverland Landscape Board

TIMEFRAME: Two years – 2021-22 and 2022-23

TRIAL OVERVIEW: Appropriate pasture species are to be identified for the low rainfall Murray Plains environment, which has highly variable soil types. Ten pasture species will be sown into a trial site in 2021 and dry matter cuts and seed banks will be measured. Sowing rate is measured in three species, and N fixation as well as soil borne diseases are measured via soil tests the following autumn.

This second year of the pastures trial (2022) and involves sowing wheat over the 2021 trial plots and assessing regeneration of pasture species as well as contribution of varieties to soil nitrogen and providing a soil disease break.

In addition, the Murraylands and Riverland Landscape Board provided funding for nitrogen fixation and soil disease testing to be undertaken as well as economic analysis of the peak dry matter production of the species trialled, as well as the seeding rate trial.

Download pasture results from 2021-22

Download economic analysis by Pinion Advisory