PERENNIAL LEGUMES FOR THE HIGH RAINFALL ZONE OF EASTERN AUSTRALIA .2.PERSISTENCE AND POTENTIAL ADAPTATION ZONES

Cultivars and accessions of a range of perennial legumes were evaluate d in small plot field trials at 4 on-farm locations on the Northern Ta blelands of New South Wales. Variable establishment from seed resulted in good stands at 2 sites, and moderate to poor stands at the other 2 sites. In spite of this, trends in behaviour of individual species we re apparent even where stands were very poor. This was exemplified by the gradual improvement in frequency of Trifolium medium at the most m ontane site. Trifolium ambiguum and Coronilla varia were most persiste nt across all sites. Good stands of Lotus corniculatus, L. pedunculatu s, T. pratense and Medicago sativa thinned out within several years wi th M. sativa most persistent. Astragalus cicer thinned out rapidly on the relatively acidic soils but maintained a good stand at 1 site on a deep, free-draining granite. From these results and known climatic re sponses, simple logical rules were constructed to predict potential le gume adaptation zones for eastern Australia. The zones of adaptation f or the range of species are compared with a nominal zone for T. repens to identify areas where legume persistence might be improved with add itional species.