Project details
Status: Completed
TIA and NRM South have teamed up to invest in a pasture project to help improve the productivity and sustainability of pasture systems in Tasmania.
Led by TIA Research Fellow, Dr Rowan Smith, the project aims to identify a perennial legume that persists in the dryland wool grazing environment of the East Coast of Tasmania.
The East Coast of Tasmania is an important wool producing region that has unique challenges that are unlike those experienced by wool producers in the midlands region
Finding perennial legumes that are adapted to the region will have multiple benefits.
Some of the benefits may include an increase in dry matter production and ground cover, reduced risk of erosion and weed incursion and making the grazing systems more resilient to prolonged periods of moisture stress.
The team have worked with local producers to identify a suitable site for the trial, which will be established at Milton Vineyard at Cranbrook.
The trial will evaluate a number of legume options, including the suitability of perennial legumes developed recently by TIA’s Herbage Development Program including the deep-rooted Talish clover, stoloniferous red clover, and variegated lucerne.
This project is supported by NRM South, through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Programme and the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture.