Abstract
A 5-year study was conducted to obtain information on rapid laborsaving technique to introduce Zoysia japonica Steud. into a temperate grass pasture under cattle grazing. Z. japonica seedlings (as a plug of 8cm×8cm, 5cm deep) were transplanted in early summer of the first year, being lightly firmed either onto fresh dung pats (<4 days after excretion ; new laborsaving method) or into the soil (conventional method). From the second year, the pasture was divided into 2 plots with different stocking rates (high=5-8, low=3-6 head/ha). Seedlings transplanted on dung pats were never pulled out by grazing animals and survived similarly or better than those transplanted into the soil. Development of Z. japonica plants was better at the higher stocking rate where sward height was maintained at about 10cm above ground, with the coverage of the grass reaching 54% at the end of the fifth year. The results show that transplanting seedling onto dung pats is of potential value as a laborsaving method for introducing Z. japonica into a grazed temperate pasture and maintaining sward height at about 10cm through grazing management is effective for rapid dominance of the grass.
