Effect of treading, herbicides, season, and seed coating on oversown grass and legume establishment in easy North Island hill country

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Abstract
Three experiments were conducted on hill country at Whatawhata to study the effects of time of oversowing, height of sward cover, treading intensity, chemical treatment of resident pasture, and seed coating on Jhe establishment and early seedling survival after grazing of a number of oversown grasses and legumes. In the environmental conditions experienced, establishment of legumes was higher after spring oversowing; the reverse tended to apply to grasses. All species responded to treading by sheep, especially in mid spring when soil moisture stress was greater. Establishment responses to increasing treading intensity were linear or curvilinear, depending on species, but seedling survival was largely independent of the treading intensity at oversowing. Spraying of resident pasture with maleic hydrazide, paraquat, or glyphosate at the time of oversowing increased seedling establishment at 4 weeks, as well as seedling survival at 8 weeks. Survival, in particular, was directly related to the effect of the chemical in suppressing regrowth of the resident sward for all species except lucerne and lotus. Overall, there was greater response to sward suppression by herbicides than to treading at establishment. An increased seed coat: seed weight ratio increased seedling establishment only slightly.

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