3P grass density, vigour and response to rainfall 3P grasses are those that are palatable, perennial and productive.
Dense 3P pastures with good ground cover maximise the land’s ability to respond to rain and produce useful forage. This in turn, provides an effective trapping and filtering medium to slow water movement and increase runoff infiltration ─ especially after a long, dry spell. Soils in 3P patches ‘wet-up’ faster and have a greater soil moisture content than bare ground and annual grass patches, especially in the early wet season. This is of particular significance for both water quality and animal productivity as most nutrients are usually lost in the early wet.
As prolonged overgrazing leads to the decline and eventual loss of 3P grasses from pasture, the type and abundance of grasses in a pasture can be used as an indicator of system health.
“Maximising 3P grass ground cover is recognised as the single most important management strategy for improving runoff quality in the Burdekin uplands”
Typical 3P grasses are:
- Black speargrass (Heteropogon contortus),
- Brigalow grass (Paspalidium species),
- Bull Mitchell grass (Astrebla squarrosa),
- Curly bluegrass (Dichanthium fecundum),
- Desert mitchell grass [Desert bluegrass] (Bothriochloa ewartiana),
- Forest bluegrass (Bothriochloa bladhii),
- Giant speargrass (Heteropogon triticeus),
- Golden beard grass (Chrysopogon fallax),
- Green couch (Cynodon dactylon),
- King bluegrass (Dichanthium queenslandicum),
- Mitchell grass (Astrebla species),
- Native millet (Panicum decompositum),
- Queensland blue grass (Dichanthium sericeum),
- Tall cup grass (Eriochloa crebra) and
- Windmill grass/es (Enteropogon species).
Related information
- Hooker, N. (2010). Native Grasses for Revegetation in the Townsville Region.
- Karfs, R., Holloway, C., Pritchard, K., and Resing, J. (2009). Land condition photo standards for the Burdekin Dry Tropics Rangelands: a guide for Practitioners.