Growth Characteristics of Grass and Legume Cultivars and Their Potential for Land Reclamation

Abstract

Forty commercially available grass and legume cultivars were grown under non-limiting nutrient conditions in sand culture. Differences in growth rate between species and cultivars were considered in relation to their possible use in the reclamation of derelict land. For any one species, intervarietal differences in mean relative growth rate (.hivin.R) were small. Dry weight partition data was more variable between cultivars but, as with the growth rate, species differences were far greater than cultivar differences. Legume species such as Coronilla varia and Lotus corniculatus, which were successfully used in land reclamation, had relatively high root-weight ratios (RWR) but had low .hivin.R.