Seed Rain of a Native Pasture under a Range of Grazing and Fertiliser Regimes

Seed Rain of a Native Pasture under a Range of Grazing and Fertiliser Regimes

In recent years, deferred grazing (no defoliation of pastures for a period generally from spring to late summer or autumn) has been widely adopted to rejuvenate degraded native pastures in marginal land classes such as steep hill country in western Victoria, Australia. One of the important features of deferred grazing is the increase of seed production over summer and autumn, which could potentially lead to natural regeneration and improved groundcover by pasture plants (Nie et al. 1999). While increasing seed numbers in the soil seed bank following deferred grazing were reported (Nie and Mitchell 2006), there has been little research on seed production during deferred grazing in this environment. This study aimed to investigate the seed rain (the fall to the ground of wind-dispersed seeds) of native pastures under various deferred grazing and fertiliser regimes. Seed population and composition in the soil seed bank are important contributors to the productivity, botanical composition and persistence of permanent pastures.