Managing biological succession in intensive pastoral ecosystems for improved production and sustainability

Abstract

Use of forage succession to increase productivity and upgrade runout pasture has become an integral part of modern pastoral production systems Use of new forage types has increased along with increases in area sown This growth in forage crop use and diversity has largely been without a coordinated view to long term benefits and costs in terms of weeds pests and diseases This paper describes the potential impacts on insects weeds and nematodes of a forage succession (pasture to turnips to annual ryegrass to turnips to perennial ryegrass/white clover) that commonly occurs in the Waikato region of New Zealand Pest distributions host ranges phenology and survival biology are used to elucidate strengths and weaknesses of the rotation Knowledge gaps are identified so that they can be addressed and add to robust forage succession design in the future