PASTURE ESTABLISHMENT

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PASTURE ESTABLISHMENT
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Preliminary Information

• Soil type
• Soil fertility
• Previous vegetation
• Rainfall pattern
• Area to be planted

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Land Clearing

• From forests
• Revenue from logging
• Leave trees for shade
• Normally carried out by contractor
• Leave steep slopes and ravines

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• From abandoned land
• More easily cleared
• Problem of weeds
• Soil of lower fertility
• Needs higher rates of fertilizer and liming

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LAND CLEARING
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BURNING not recommended
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Soil preparation

• Clay and loamy soils
• Use disc plough to turn soil over
• Disc harrows to break up soil clods
• Final round with rotovator to make soil fine for
  seed sowing
• Soil need not be fine with vegetative propagation

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• Sandy soils
• Can use chisel plough to break up soils and
  remove weeds

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DISC PLOUGH to overturn soil and bury existing
vegetation
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DISC PLOUGH cutting and overturning soil
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Large clods of soil left during disc ploughing
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Liming

• Use lime if pH lt4.5
• Apply about 2 tonnes/ha

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Liming after disc ploughing
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Liming manually
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Harrows

• Disc harrows used after ploughing and liming

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DISC HARROWS
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Disc harrows breaking up clods into smaller
particles
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Rotovator
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Basal fertilizers

• Fertilisers applied during planting
• Pure grass pastures
• 60 kg N, 40 kg P and 50 kg K/ha
• Legume grass
• Apply only P and K

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Planting grass/legume seeds using seed drill
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Compartments on seed drill for seeds and
fertilizers
fertilizers
seeds
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funnel
Disc to cut soil
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Seed drill
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Seed drill with operator
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NO-TILL DRILL FOR SOIL CONSERVATION
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Seeding Rates

• Grasses 5- 10 kg/ha
• Legumes 2-6 kg/ha
• Seed depth small seeds 5-10 mm
• Large seeds (legumes) 15-20 mm

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Grasses that can be planted with seeds

• Signal grass (Brachiaria decumbens)
• Guinea grass (Panicum maximum)
• Setaria sphacelata var sericea

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Vegetative Planting
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Vegetative materials

• Divided root stocks
• Cuttings
• Whole stems
• e.g. MARDI Digit, Setaria splendida, Napier

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VEGETATIVE PLANTING Napier grass
Planting material mature stems
Stems stripped off leaves
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Bare stems laid in furrow, base to tip
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Planting cuttings of napier - slanted
New tillers
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VEGETATIVE PLANTING Guinea grass
Planting material rooted clumps
3 tillers per planting hole
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Guinea grass clumps in rows
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VEGETATIVE PLANTING - MARDI Digit
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VEGETATIVE PLANTING stoloniferous grasses
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Good establishment after 2 weeks
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Weed problems
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Good legume-grass pasture
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HAPPY STUDENTS AFTER SUCCESSFUL PLANTING!