AgroforestryAgroforestry species species profiles profiles forfor lowerlower rainfall rainfall regions regions of of southeastern Australia FLORASEARCH 1B southeastern Australia FLORASEARCH 1B Australia Australia Agroforestry species profiles for lower rainfall regions of southeastern Australia FLORASEARCH 1B Australia A report for the RIRDC / L&WA / FWPA / MDBC Joint Venture Agroforestry Program by Trevor J. Hobbs and Mike Bennell January 2009 © 2008 Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation. All rights reserved. ISBN 1 74151 477 0 ISSN 1440-6845 Please cite this report as: Hobbs TJ and Bennell M (2008). Agroforestry species profiles for lower rainfall regions of southeastern Australia FloraSearch 1b. Report to the Joint Venture Agroforestry Program (JVAP) and Future Farm Industries CRC*. Published by RIRDC, Canberra Publication No. 07/080 Project No. SAR-38A 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 Trevor J. Hobbs Mike Bennell SA Dept. of Water, Land & Biodiversity Conservation, SA Dept. of Water, Land & Biodiversity Conservation, Waite Road, Urrbrae SA 5064 Waite Road, Urrbrae SA 5064 Phone: 08 8303 9766 Fax: 08 8303 9555 Phone: 08 8303 9674 Fax: 08 8303 9555 Email: [email protected] 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 Published in October 2008 * CRC for Plant-based Management of Dryland Salinity officially concluded operations on 30 June 2007. Its successor the Future Farm Industries Cooperative Research Centre continued to manage CRC PBMDS research projects until 30 June 2008. ii Agroforestry species profiles for lower rainfall regions of southeastern Australia Foreword The FloraSearch project has the goal of providing a This project was funded by the Joint Venture focus to the development of broad scale woody crops Agroforestry Program (JVAP), which was supported for southern Australia. The project focuses on selecting by three R&D corporations – Rural Industries Research species that can be developed to supply feedstock for and Development Corporation (RIRDC), Land & Water the large-scale markets of wood and energy products. Australia (LWA), and Forest and Wood Products FloraSearch is a successor to WA Search and Acacia Search Research and Development Corporation (FWPRDC)1, projects and draws strongly upon their philosophy and together with the Murray-Darling Basin Commission methodology. The first phase of the FloraSearch project (MDBC). These R&D corporations were funded has produced three reports: principally by the Australian Government. State and a) Evaluating agroforestry species and industries for Australian Governments contributed funds to the MDBC. lower rainfall regions of southeastern Australia Significant financial and in-kind contributions werealso (FloraSearch 1a) made by project partners within the Cooperative Research Centre for Plant-based Management of b) Agroforestry species profiles for lower rainfall Dryland Salinity2 and SA Department of Water, regions of southeastern Australia (FloraSearch 1b) Land and Biodiversity Conservation. c) Review of wood products, tannins and exotic This report is an addition to RIRDC’s diverse range of species for agroforestry regions of southern over 1800 research publications. It forms part of our Australia (FloraSearch 1c). Agroforestry and Farm Forestry R&D program, which FloraSearch has undertaken a systematic process aims to integrate sustainable and productive agroforestry of collating existing knowledge on a large group of within Australian farming systems. The JVAP, under this potentially valuable woody biomass and fodder plant program, is managed by RIRDC. species to identify and prioritise those with greatest Most of our publications are available for viewing, prospects for future development as commercial woody downloading or purchasing online through our website: crops. Detailed data on the most highly ranked 238 n species and subspecies have been summarised in this downloads at www.rirdc.gov.au/fullreports/index.html report. Each species profile includes information on: n purchases at www.rirdc.gov.au/eshop n Relationships between species, rainfall zones and soils Peter O’Brien n Summarised results from field surveys and Managing Director product testing Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation n Species bioclimatic models to identify areas with potential for future cultivation n Illustrative photos for most species. 1 Now Forest & Wood Products Australia (FWPA) 2 Now Future Farm Industries CRC (FFI CRC) Foreword iii Acknowledgements The authors acknowledge the Joint Venture appreciate Mark Ellis for his contributions to the Agroforestry Program and Murray-Darling Basin scientific, political and administrative components Commission for funding this project and the support of the FloraSearch project. Thanks to Joe Landsberg of Cooperative Research Centre for Plant-based for advice on plant productivity modelling; State and Management of Dryland Salinity3. National Herbarium staff – especially Tim Entwisle, Barry Conn, and Gary Chapple – for access to Australia’s The input and helpful advice of project collaborators Virtual Herbarium, and Martin O’Leary who provided and members of the FloraSearch Steering Committee scientific and technical advice. The high quality of field is gratefully acknowledged. This includes John Bartle, surveys, databases and computing would not have been Graham Olsen, Ian Nuberg, Peter Milthorpe, George possible without the technical support of Julie Dean, Ben Frieschmidt, Des Stackpole and John Doran. We Sheppard, Brett Bartel, Brett Honeysett, Sue Wakefield and Kim Tomkinson. Special thanks to Darcy Peters for 3 CRC for Plant-based Management of Dryland Salinity his assistance in creating the potential distribution maps. officially concluded operations on 30 June 2007. Its successor, the Future Farm Industries Cooperative Photography by Trevor Hobbs, Mike Bennell, Julie Research Centre continued to manage CRC PBMDS Dean, Ben Sheppard, Brett Bartel, Brett Honeysett, research projects until 30 June 2008. Sue Wakefield, Bruce Maslin and Des Stackpole. iv Agroforestry species profiles for lower rainfall regions of southeastern Australia Contents Foreword ................................................................................. iii Acknowledgements ......................................................................... iv Executive summary ......................................................................... xi Overview of species profiles ................................................................. 1 Acacia acinacea ................................................... ...................... 5 Acacia aneura ........................................................................... 6 Acacia argyrophylla ....................................................................... 7 Acacia ausfeldii .......................................................................... 8 Acacia baileyana ......................................................................... 9 Acacia brachybotrya ...................................................................... 10 Acacia calamifolia ........................................................................ 11 Acacia cyclops ........................................................................... 12 Acacia dealbata ................................................... ...................... 13 Acacia deanei ........................................................................... 14 Acacia decora ........................................................................... 15 Acacia decurrens. 16 Acacia dodonaeifolia ...................................................................... 17 Acacia doratoxylon ....................................................................... 18