Competition Between Lolium Perenne L. and Anthoxanthum Odoratum L. at Two Levels of Phosphate and Potash

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Abstract
With a pot experiment competition was studied between an indicator for high fertility (L. perenne) and an indicator for low fertility (A. odoratum) at 2 PK-levels of the soil. Clones of each of the species were planted in different ratios making a replacement series. As a measure of the abundance of a species the number of tillers in the turf was taken. The mathematical treatment of the observations, made once a month after each cut, follows a method of De Wit (1960). During the 1st 2 months of the experiment the species influenced each other only by crowding for the same space. (The relative reproductive rate a is independent of the composition of the mixture.) With the series at the high PK-level Lolium drove out Anthoxanthum and with the series at the low PK-level the reverse took place. The rate at which these species drove out each other in the 1st month is as big as in the 2d month, notwithstanding the profuse flowering of both species during the 1st month. During the 3d month the species affected each other in some other way than by crowding for space only (a is dependent on the composition of the mixture). It is evident that Anthoxanthum carried a virus which is not harmful to this grass, but which severely infected the clone of Lolium in use. Consequently Lolium will be completely driven out by Anthoxanthum at an increased rate.

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