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Improving the Direct Sowing of Commercial Native Plants in Agricultural Lands of Southern Australia RIRDC Publication No. 10/061 Improving the Direct Sowing of Commercial Native Plants in Agricultural Lands of Southern Australia by Geoff.S. Woodall April 2010 RIRDC Publication No 10/061 RIRDC Project No.PRJ-000686 © 2010 Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation. All rights reserved. ISBN 978 1 74254 034 4 ISSN 1440-6845 Improving the Direct Sowing of Commercial Native Plants in Agricultural Lands of Southern Australia Publication No. 10/061 Project No. PRJ-000686 The information contained in this publication is intended for general use to assist public knowledge and discussion and to help improve the development of sustainable regions. You must not rely on any information contained in this publication without taking specialist advice relevant to your particular circumstances. While reasonable care has been taken in preparing this publication to ensure that information is true and correct, the Commonwealth of Australia gives no assurance as to the accuracy of any information in this publication. The Commonwealth of Australia, the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC), the authors or contributors expressly disclaim, to the maximum extent permitted by law, all responsibility and liability to any person, arising directly or indirectly from any act or omission, or for any consequences of any such act or omission, made in reliance on the contents of this publication, whether or not caused by any negligence on the part of the Commonwealth of Australia, RIRDC, the authors or contributors. The Commonwealth of Australia does not necessarily endorse the views in this publication. This publication is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, all other rights are reserved. However, wide dissemination is encouraged. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be addressed to the RIRDC Publications Manager on phone 02 6271 4165. Researcher Contact Details Dr Geoff Woodall Centre of Excellence in Natural Resource Management University of Western Australia Albany Regional Office 44 Albany Highway ALBANY WA 6330 Phone: 0427 449644 Fax: Email: [email protected] In submitting this report, the researcher has agreed to RIRDC publishing this material in its edited form. RIRDC Contact Details Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation Level 2, 15 National Circuit BARTON ACT 2600 PO Box 4776 KINGSTON ACT 2604 Phone: 02 6271 4100 Fax: 02 6271 4199 Email: [email protected]. Web: http://www.rirdc.gov.au Electronically published by RIRDC in April 2010 Print-on-demand by Union Offset Printing, Canberra at www.rirdc.gov.au or phone 1300 634 313 ii Foreword Research detailed in this report is important as Australia urgently requires more robust and lower cost methods of establishing woody perennials into low rainfall agricultural landscapes. The direct sowing of new woody crops may have merit as a low cost establishment method, though there has not been a systematic attempt to develop agricultural seeding systems for these woody crops. This project aimed to improve the reliability of establishment of direct sown woody crops, focussing on the fine seeded mallee eucalypts and other low rainfall eucalypt species. Low cost establishment is critical to a broader national agenda to efficiently roll out perennial vegetation into an increasingly arid agricultural landscape. The main beneficiaries of this research are direct seeding practitioners as there are several key findings that should enable the process of direct sowing to be become more reliable and robust. There are several findings that will also benefit the nursery industry, particularly those that grow eucalypts for commercial and non commercial revegetation. The key findings are that the addition of nitrogen appears to be the key to the production of robust field raised seedlings. Depth to sow each species in soils of differing texture is critical and the plasticity of species to sowing depth is variable. The eucalypts tested do not have major dormancy issues and small gains in germination can be made by treating the seed with ethylene. New chemical options for the control of various weed species have been developed. Insect pests present in agricultural land were shown to cause major problems to all sown species investigated and need careful management. Direct seeding practitioners should use the information provided in this report to guide future field practice. The very tight timelines of this project did not allow full field testing of all promising treatments and approaches and thus practitioners should not apply the findings until they have been fully field tested over several seasons. This project was funded by the Joint Venture Agroforestry Program (JVAP), which was supported by three R&D Corporations - Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC), The former Land & Water Australia (L&WA), and Forest and Wood Products Australia. The former Murray-Darling Basin Commission (MDBC) also contributed to this project. The R&D Corporations are funded principally by the Australian Government. This report is an addition to RIRDC’s diverse range of over 2000 research publications. It forms part of our former Agroforestry and Farm Forestry R&D program, which aimed to integrate sustainable and productive agroforestry within Australian farming systems. Most of RIRDC’s publications are available for viewing, free downloading or purchasing online at www.rirdc.gov.au. Purchases can also be made by phoning 1300 634 313. Peter O’Brien Managing Director Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation iii Acknowledgments We thank Ben Puglisi, Ben Fitzpatrick and Mark Whinnen for their technical assistance and the Hall and Johnson families for hosting trials on their properties. iv Contents Foreword ................................................................................................................................................ ii Acknowledgments................................................................................................................................. iv Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................ vii Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1. General aspects of seedling morphology, biology, growth and mortality ................... 3 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 3 Methods ............................................................................................................................................ 4 Results ............................................................................................................................................. 11 Discussion ....................................................................................................................................... 37 Recommendations ........................................................................................................................... 41 Chapter 2 Improving germination performance in five woody perennial species........................ 42 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 42 Methods .......................................................................................................................................... 43 Results ............................................................................................................................................. 47 Discussion ....................................................................................................................................... 57 Recommendations ........................................................................................................................... 59 Chapter 3 The dose-response of four native species to herbicide overspraying ........................... 61 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 61 Methods .......................................................................................................................................... 62 Statistical Analysis ................................................................................................................... 63 Results ............................................................................................................................................. 63 Discussion ....................................................................................................................................... 68 References ............................................................................................................................................ 70 Appendix 1 ........................................................................................................................................... 74 Appendix 2 ........................................................................................................................................... 75 v Tables Table 2.1: Determining optimal