Pasture Establishment in a Wasted Mulberry Plantation under Cattle Grazing: Effect of Seeding Rate and Bare Area Size on the Establishment of Sown Species

Abstract

To develop a simple pasture establishment in a wasted mulberry plantation, the effect of seeding rate and the size of bare area on the establishment of pasture plants were examined. Nine experimental plots (6m×6m each) was set in a mulberry plantation (0.44ha) under cattle grazing (178-186 animal unit·day/ha), and three treatments (3.7, 5.6 and 7.4g/m² of seeding rate) were allocated by Latin-square design. Seed mixture of orchardgrass, perennial ryegrass, Kentucky blue grass and white clover (15 : 15 : 5 : 2w/w) was sown by hand on 18 September, 2007. Coverage of plants and bare area size were recorded on 19 September 2007, 16 November 2007, 21 May 2008 and 21 May 2009. The coverage of total sown species tended to increase with increasing of seeding rate in November 2007 (one-way ANOVA, P < 0.1), but the tendency was not observed in 2008-2009 because of dominance of perennial ryegrass and white clover in all treatments. Multiple regression analysis showed a significant effect of bare area size on the coverage of perennial ryegrass and total sown species (P < 0.05) in 2008-2009. The results suggest that surface-sowing under cattle grazing is practical method to establish pasture plants in wasted mulberry plantations.