Native Grasses: Their Potential Use in Revegetation of Disturbed Sites in the Wet-Dry Tropics

Gray E, ; Banks J,
Organization: The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy
Pages: 0
Publication Date: Jan 1, 1994
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In mine site revegetation, exotic grasses are more commonly used than native grasses. This is due to unavailability of native grass seed on a commerical scale and lack of information on agronomical aspects of native grasses. This paper lists a number of native grass species that have the potential to grow well on mine sites, and provides some information on their seed collection, processing and germination. Further, it demonstrates via results of a field trial conducted at Ranger Mine spoil the relative performance of ten native grasses and Rhodes grass. It is concluded that (i) some native grasses have similar ability to grow on mine spoils compared to Rhodes grass and (ii) the use of native grasses have added advantages in ecosystem restoration.
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