Growth and development in perennial veld grasses. I. Themeda triandra tillers under various systems of defoliation

Abstract

Clipping twice (once in spring and once in summer), compared with no clipping, reduced by 14 per cent the weight of primary tillers of Themeda triandra at maturity in the following summer. Two additional clipping treatments, one applied in autumn and one in winter, decreased the weight of mature tillers by 65 per cent. Similar results were shown by the individual components of the primary tiller.