Establishment of Ammophila arenaria (marram grass) from culms, seeds and rhizomes.

Published online
29 Apr 1990
Content type
Journal article
Journal title
Journal of Applied Ecology
DOI
10.2307/2403577

Author(s)
Putten, W. H. van der

Publication language
English
Location
Netherlands

Abstract

In field trials on the coastal foredune ridge of Voorne Island, Netherlands in 1984, A. arenaria was sown with a mixture of nurse crops (Secale cereale, Hordeum vulgare, Triticum aestivum, Trifolium repens, Lupinus perennis) on dunes stabilized by disc-harrowing 0.5 kg straw/m2, planting bundles of dry Phragmites australis seeds in a grid, composting with 4 kg "edelcompost"/m2 or treating with 4 g carboxymethyl cellulose/m2. A. arenaria establishment was only successful with stabilization using straw and was not affected by nurse crops. In further trials on straw-stabilized dunes in 1987, A. arenaria was established from culms (traditional method), by sowing 200-600 seeds/m2 or by disc-harrowing 20-60 15-cm pieces of rhizome/m2. No fertilizer or 80:20:20 (low) or 160:40:40 kg (high) N:P:K fertilizer/ha was applied pre-establishment. The number of seedlings and primary shoots increased with increasing seed/rhizome density in the 1st but not the 2nd growing season. DM yield in the rhizome treatment increased with increasing NPK rate and biomass production increased with fertilizer in all treatments. Biomass production was greatest in rhizomes with fertilizer and from culms without NPK. In laboratory experiments, high rate and percentage of germination were obtained with light + fluctuating temp.

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