G.J. LEACH¹, D. GRAMSHAW² and F.H. KLEINSCHMIDT³

¹CSIRO, Division of Tropical Crops and Pastures, Cunningham Laboratory, St. Lucia, Queensland 4067.
²Department of Primary Industries Research Station, Biloela, Queensland 4715.
³Queensland Agricultural College, Lawes, Queensland 4345.

Abstract

Groups of erect, spreading and creeping-rooted lucerne lines were grown under dryland grazing at Biloela and Lawes in southern Queensland. Some of the erect lines were also grown at Biloela with irrigation. Their survival was compared with that of cv. Hunter River.
Neither any lines derived solely from cv. Hunter River nor any other erect lines survived significantly better than cv. Hunter River. Survival of creeping-rooted lines was poor. Several of the spreading lines showed good survival after 4 years at Biloela or 6 years at Lawes, and some of these had similar yields to those of cv. Hunter River. Spreading genotypes could make a useful contribution to the development of lucerne cultivars for prolonged dryland grazing in southern Queensland.