102 p. : ill. ; 22 cm #0521 Signed by Author. Inscriptions on prelims, newspaper articles enclosures. Agriculture.

Tagasaste is the name given on the island of La
Palma, in the Canary Islands, to the indigenous plant
known botanically as Chamaecytisus palmensis. This
legume, belonging to the family Fabaceae, has been
variously called tree lucerne, false tree lucerne and
lucerne tree in Australia. For the sake of uniformity,
tagasaste is preferred.
Tagasaste is a shrub or small tree growing to a height
and crown diameter of about 5 m, often with long drooping, leafy branches.
Variations occur, including
upright and prostrate types. White flowers appear in
profusion, usually in spring, though under some
conditions flowering can commence in winter. The
flowers develop into flattened pods about 5 cm long,
containing about 10 seeds. The seeds, which ripen in
summer, are a flattened oval shape, about 5 mm long
by 3 mm wide by 1 mm thick. There are about 45 000
seeds per kilogram.
In its native habitat, tagasaste has long been used for
animal fodder. In Australia it has been planted around
homesteads for windbreak and decorative purposes
and shade in fowlyards, and sometimes used for
fodder. Tagasaste has received considerable attention
in New Zealand in recent years for fodder and shelter.
Tagasaste, being an evergreen, can provide green feed
at any time of the year. However, experience suggests
that, because of its relatively slow growth rate and
recovery after cutting during winter, its main role
could be the provision of high quality fodder during
summer and early autumn.
Being a legume, tagasaste roots have nodules
containing nitrogen-fixing rhizobium bacteria.
HISTORY IN AUSTRALIA
Tagasaste has been grown in Australia since at least
1879, when seeds were sent from the Royal Botanic
Gardens, Kew, in England, and grown at the Adelaide
Botanic Gardens, whose director reported favourably
on it as a drought-resistant fodder plant. In 1896, G.
Valder commented in the Agricultural Gazette of N.S.
W. on tagasasteís value in drought. J. H. Maiden,
Government Botanist, also commented in the
Agricultural Gazette, in 1899, 1908, and 1915-the
latter issue containing a particularly enthusiastic review
of tagasaste.
ADAPTABILITY-CLIMATE AND SOIL
Tagasaste grows well in a range of environments and,
once established, handles climates ranging from those
of the hot western wheat belt to those of the cool
tablelands. As a small plant, though, it can be frost
sensitive. It is adapted to a range of soils, preferring
the more freely drained ones, but it does not do well
on low lying sites subject to waterlogging. It may be
able to cope with at least moderately acid soils.
USES
Fodder
Fodder is currently the main use of tagasaste. The
nutritive value of the foliage depends on the time of
the year and the proportion of leaf to stem. New
Zealand research indicates digestibilities of 82 per cent
for plant tips, and 59 per cent for stems up to 8 mm
thick. Figures for crude protein content varied from
18 per cent to 25 per cent for tips, and 8 per cent for
stems. These data suggest that the leaves compare well
with good pasture forages, whilst the stems are
equivalent to the hay normally used for stock
maintenance. There seem to be no reports of
tagasaste containing compounds toxic to animals.
Research results from Western Australia and New
Tagasaste trees make excellent shelter plants for
sensitive crops such as kiwifruit.
Photo: R. Clarke and J. Rodehoffe.
Zealand suggest that edible dry matter yields of I I
tonnes per hectare per year can be obtained from
dryland tagasaste.
Being a deep-rooted perennial and therefore tapping
subsoil moisture, tagasaste is able to produce green
feed in rainless summers. It thus has obvious potential
for providing high protein herbage to animals in
summer and early autumn when pastures are generally
of low nutritive value. However, there is a need for
research to evaluate tagasaste under actual farm
conditions in New South Wales.
Tagasaste foliage could also be processed into high
protein stock pellets; again, research is needed to
evaluate this use.
Shelter
The value of trees as shade and shelter for livestock is
well known. Mature tagasaste trees provide good
shade and, if grown in closely planted hedgerows,
form an excellent windbreak. The possibility of using
the plant as horticulture shelter is being examined in
New Zealand, with promising results; a novel
approach is to grow a circle of tagasaste plants
around individual, wind-sensitive young trees such as
walnuts, removing the shelter plants after several years.