Secale montanum—a wider role in Australasia?

Abstract

The accession CPI 22755 of Secale montanum Guss. (secale) from Kotor, Montenegro, and the non‐shattering cultivar Black Mountain bred from it, have proven to be useful as self‐regenerating, short‐lived perennial grasses in permanent, montane pastures on free‐draining acid soils in one region of Victoria, and show promise in other parts of Australia and in New Zealand. The species is widely distributed in southern Europe, northern Africa, and south‐western Asia, where it is well adapted to dry, stony, or rocky hillsides. Very little germplasm has been introduced into Australia, but the variability in the Montenegro population has been augmented by somaclonal variation. Selection over eight generations at Canberra for higher seed set, shorter awns, better establishment from seed, and higher survival over summer on duplex soils has produced a population which can persist under occasional crash grazing and annual seed harvesting, even through a year in which the winter and spring were very dry. This type has shown promise in trials conducted by Mrs K. Flower on deep sands in the south east of South Australia and by Ms C. Saunders on sandy duplex soils in south‐western Australia. Further possible developments in the species are discussed.