12 March 1999 Herbage Seedcrop Book a 'First'

The first ever one-stop, fully comprehensive book for New Zealanders on growing and managing herbage seed crops has been produced by former Zonta Woman Scientist of the Year and New Zealand Institute of Agricultural Science ‘Communicator of the Year’ award winner Dr Jacqueline Rowarth of Lincoln University.

Practical Herbage Seedcrop Management, edited by Dr Rowarth, brings together the contributions of 15 plant scientists and herbage seed experts giving the latest information on how to grow 27 different grazing species for seed.

Published by Lincoln University Press, the book is the first of its kind for temperate herbage seed production and it meets a need that has been apparent to the industry for some time.

Herbage seed has been grown in New Zealand since 1852 and today the herbage seed industry is an important component of the country’s arable industry. Over one quarter of New Zealand has had pasture species introduced to increase the yield and quality of agricultural production and to boost export earnings. As Dr Rowarth says – primary production still accounts for over half of New Zealand’s export dollars, most of it based initially on herbage seed.

The book is divided into sections – Grasses; Legumes; and Herbs/Shrubs, with comprehensive information on: Bromus species, Browntop, Crested Dogstail, Fine Fescue, Paspalum, Phalaris, Ryegrass, Tall Fescue, Tall Oatgrass, Timothy, Yorkshire Fog, Annual Medicks, Caucasian Clover, Crownvetch, Lotus Species, Perennial or Russell Lupin, Red Clover, Serradella, Sulla, Vetches, White Clover, Zigzag Clover, Chicory, Plantain, Sheep’s Burnet, Tagasaste and Yarrow.

Complementing the text of the 256-page book are glossaries covering pesticides, weeds, insects and pathogens, and an appendix summarising species yield and management.

Practical Herbage Seedcrop Management is billed as an essential guide and reference for herbage seedcrop growers and managers, farmers, agriculturalists and students of plant science and it is available at $39.95 from all good booksellers or by contacting Lincoln University Press.

The Community Diary is produced by the Strategic Communications Centre, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand​