New pasture dieback project aims to find ways to improve productivity

Pests and diseases

23 Sep

Pasture dieback is causing major losses of feed to producers in Australia and there is an urgent need to find ways to provide feed to stock. There is preliminary evidence that improving pasture management and re-sowing with pasture mixes, including legumes, can reduce dieback by 50% and improve productivity.

A new project led by AHR and funded by MLA and the Australian Government will establish a network of field trials to evaluate the effectiveness of management practices on pasture productivity and dieback, and will include: Re-sowing with diversified pasture mixes with and without legumes; improved pasture management; and evaluate pasture species for dieback tolerance.

Trials will be set up on four commercial dieback-affected properties in Queensland, which will become demonstration sites to showcase effective practices to the broader industry. The project will evaluate the effectiveness of pasture species and varieties for tolerance to dieback. The focus will be on varieties and species that are commercially available to producers, and will attempt to improve the palatability of Biloela buffel which is commonly identified as tolerant to dieback but is unpalatable to cattle. Trials will be assessed for productivity, feed quality and economic viability. Pasture dieback field trials established in 2018 will be re-assessed after two years to identify longer-term benefits of management practices.

Producers will benefit by having verified, objective information on the usefulness of improved pasture management on the productivity of dieback-affected pasture to support decisions about investing in re-sowing and pasture improvements. The results will be made widely available to producers through normal industry communication channels including AgForce, MLA, seed companies and commercial agronomists.