R. ROE and R.M. JONES

CSIRO Tropical Agriculture, Brisbane, Australia

Abstract

Forty different legume accessions were sown into cultivated strips in otherwise undisturbed grassland at 2 sites in southern coastal Queensland in 1969. The accessions were primarily from cultivars and selections of Kummerowia (formerly Lespedeza) stipulacea obtained from the USA, together with other accessions of lespedeza. Some commercially released cultivars, including Macroptilium atropurpureum cv. Siratro and Aeschynomene falcata cv. Bargoo, were sown as controls. Grazing was controlled in the first 4 years after sowing, but after that the sites were open to farm grazing. The sites were regularly inspected for the first 5 years and then at 5–15 yearly intervals until 1999.
Although lespedeza accessions established at both sites, and persisted for about 4 years at one site, they did not persist in the medium or long term. Siratro was usually the most productive species for the first 5 years, but then declined. In contrast, Bargoo persisted. When the sites were last inspected in 1999, it was impossible to identify the exact location of the original plots, but there were several thick patches of Bargoo and scattered to isolated Bargoo plants outside both experimental areas.