Potential of new summer grasses in Northland

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Abstract
The warm-season yield of a range of C4-photosynthetic pathway summer-growing tropical grasses was measured by mechanical harvesting over three seasons in small-plot trials near Kaitaia under high levels of nutrition and pest control. Several of the grasses produced higher yields than the naturalised summer grasses Paspalum dilatatum and Pennisetum clandestinum. Irrigation sufficient to replace evaporative water loss substantially increased the early summer production of all grasses but usually decreased their early autumn production. Leaching of soil nutrients may have been partially responsible for the poor autumn production under irrigation. The grasses varied widely in their relative yield response to irrigation: Digitaria decumbens produced an extra 6855 kg dry matter/ha, but yields of Cenchrus ciliaris were not changed. Production of all grasses was lowest in late summer. Most of the summer grasses persisted reasonably well under the 5-week harvest interval and 5 or 10 cm cutting height, although those with some degree of stoloniferous habit were generally better than bunch types. Several of the grasses, namely the Setaria cultivars ‘du Toits Kraal’ and ‘Narok’, rust resistant stoloniferous Digitarias, and leafy forms of Cenchrus. warrant further evaluation.

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