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Collection and Nursery Evaluation of Native Perennial Grass Species for Forage Production in Mid Rift Valley of Oromia, Ethiopia

Received: 9 August 2023     Accepted: 23 August 2023     Published: 6 September 2023
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Abstract

The study was conducted with the intention to collect and evaluate locally available perennial grasses for their performances. Thus, seeds of 30 perennial grass collections representing 6 species were collected from different areas. Before conducting the actual trial, seeds of collected grass were sown at on-station for seed increase. Among the collected grasses, the species that produced adequate seeds were used for their performance evaluation. Accordingly, 15 grasses from Cenchrus celiaris, 5 grasses from Chloris gayana and 3 grasses from Panicum coloratum collections were tested for agronomic, yield and quality parameters for two consecutive years. Improved varieties from each species were included as a check for making comparisons. The experiment was arranged in randomized block design with three replications. The overall mean value indicated that Chloris gayana grass with collection CGAB02 produced significantly (p<0.05) the highest (214.5kg/ha) seed yield value as compared to the others while dry matter yield performance of Chloris gayana were not significantly differ among the tested grass species. Other parameters including plot cover, days to 50% of flowering, leaf to stem ratio and survival rates of Chloris gayanagrass were significantly (p<0.05) varied. The combined two years mean result showed that native Panicum coloratum with collection PCHB024 produced the highest seed yield (192.1kg/ha). Whereas the dry matter recorded have no significant difference among the tested Panicum coloratum grass collections. Among Panicum coloratum grasses, PCHB024 also performs best in other agronomic and survival rate while improved Panicum coloratum variety (check) recorded the highest (14.9%) in crude protein content as compared to the other collections. The two years combined analysis indicated the highest mean seed yield (393.2kg/ha) were recorded for CCMk019 followed by CCWB010 and CCUM012 species. The two years mean showed that the highest dry matter yield (2.58t/ha) was recorded from CCUM012. The tested Cenchrus celiaris grass collections were also significantly different in all evaluated agronomic and quality parameters. Generally, the performances of local and improved grasses of the same species are comparable in most parameters. However, the survival rates of local grass after the establishment were found to be better than that of improved varieties. Among the tested perennial grasses, CGAB02, PCHB024and CCUM012andCCWB010 from Chloris gayana, Panicum coloratum and Cenchrus celiaris grass species respectively were performed best in most important parameters. These best performed local grasses should be further evaluated at on farm condition on degraded grazing lands.

Published in American Journal of Biological and Environmental Statistics (Volume 9, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.ajbes.20230902.12
Page(s) 19-26
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Dry Matter Yield, Native Grass Species, Nursery Evaluation, Perennial Grasses

References
[1] AL-Ghumaiz NS, M. I Motawei. 2011. Productivity, forage quality and presence of dehydrin genes in some introduced pasture grass cultivars growing under heat stress in central region of Saudi Arabia. AJCS 5, (8): 1001-1006.
[2] Chaparro CJ, LE Sollenberger, KH Quesenberry. 1996. Light interception, reserve status and persistence of clipped Mott elephantgrass swards. Crop Sci., 36: 649-655.
[3] Chaparro CJ, LE Sollenberger, LE Jones Jr, 1995. Defoliation effects on Mott elephantgrass productivity and leaf percentage. Agron. J., 87: 981-985.
[4] Dannhauser CS. 1991. The herbage yield and quality of three grass species on two marginal maize soils at Potchefstroom. J. Grassland Soc. Southern Africa, 8: 120-121.
[5] Kammann, C., L. Grünhage, U. Grüters, S. Janze and H. J. Jaeger. 2005. Response of aboveground grassland biomass and soil moisture to moderate long-term CO2 enrichment. Basic and Applied Ecology, 6: 351-36.
[6] Goldman JJ, TL Springer. 2011. Agronomic performance of eastern gamagrass cultivars and experimental germplasm grown on the southern plains. Native Plants Journal, 12, (2): 100-105.
[7] Hefer GD, NM Tainton. 1990. Effect of nitrogen concentration of urea ammonium nitrate and application level on the dry matter and chemical composition of Pennisetumclandestinum and Cynodon dryland pastures. J. Grassland Soc. Society of Southern Africa, 7: 36-40.
[8] Mohammad, N. and A. H. Naqvi, 1987. Dry matter yield of promising grasses in the arid rangeland of Sindh, Pakistan. Trop. Agric. (Trinidad), 64: 70–1.
[9] Pieterse PA, NFG Rethman, J Van Bosch. 1997. Production, water use efficiency and quality of four cultivars of Panicum maximum at different levels of nitrogen fertilization. Tropical Grasslands, 31: 117- 123.
[10] Sheaffer, C. C., Martin, N. P., Lamb, J. F. S., Cuomo, G. R., Jewett, J. G. and Quering, S. R. 2000. Leaf and stem properties of alfalfa entries. Agronomy Journal, 92 (4): 733-739.
[11] Steel, R. G. D and J. H. Torrie. 1980. Principles and procedures of statistics: A Biometrical Approach. McGrawHillbookCo. Inc. New York.
[12] Wijitphan S, P Lorwilai, C Arkaseang. 2009. Effects of plant spacing on yields and nutritive values of napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum schum.) under intensive management of nitrogen fertilizer and irrigation. Pakistan J. of Nutrition 8, (8) 1240-1243.
[13] Kjeldahl, J. 1883. "Neue Methode zur Bestimmung des Stickstoffs in organischen Körpern" (New method for the determination of nitrogen in organic substances), Zeitschrift für analytische Chemie, 22 (1): 366-383.
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    Nebi Husein, Dawit Abate, Meseret Tilahun, Lalisa Diriba, Usman Seman, et al. (2023). Collection and Nursery Evaluation of Native Perennial Grass Species for Forage Production in Mid Rift Valley of Oromia, Ethiopia. American Journal of Biological and Environmental Statistics, 9(2), 19-26. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajbes.20230902.12

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    Nebi Husein; Dawit Abate; Meseret Tilahun; Lalisa Diriba; Usman Seman, et al. Collection and Nursery Evaluation of Native Perennial Grass Species for Forage Production in Mid Rift Valley of Oromia, Ethiopia. Am. J. Biol. Environ. Stat. 2023, 9(2), 19-26. doi: 10.11648/j.ajbes.20230902.12

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    AMA Style

    Nebi Husein, Dawit Abate, Meseret Tilahun, Lalisa Diriba, Usman Seman, et al. Collection and Nursery Evaluation of Native Perennial Grass Species for Forage Production in Mid Rift Valley of Oromia, Ethiopia. Am J Biol Environ Stat. 2023;9(2):19-26. doi: 10.11648/j.ajbes.20230902.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajbes.20230902.12,
      author = {Nebi Husein and Dawit Abate and Meseret Tilahun and Lalisa Diriba and Usman Seman and Fikedu Nemera},
      title = {Collection and Nursery Evaluation of Native Perennial Grass Species for Forage Production in Mid Rift Valley of Oromia, Ethiopia},
      journal = {American Journal of Biological and Environmental Statistics},
      volume = {9},
      number = {2},
      pages = {19-26},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajbes.20230902.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajbes.20230902.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajbes.20230902.12},
      abstract = {The study was conducted with the intention to collect and evaluate locally available perennial grasses for their performances. Thus, seeds of 30 perennial grass collections representing 6 species were collected from different areas. Before conducting the actual trial, seeds of collected grass were sown at on-station for seed increase. Among the collected grasses, the species that produced adequate seeds were used for their performance evaluation. Accordingly, 15 grasses from Cenchrus celiaris, 5 grasses from Chloris gayana and 3 grasses from Panicum coloratum collections were tested for agronomic, yield and quality parameters for two consecutive years. Improved varieties from each species were included as a check for making comparisons. The experiment was arranged in randomized block design with three replications. The overall mean value indicated that Chloris gayana grass with collection CGAB02 produced significantly (pChloris gayana were not significantly differ among the tested grass species. Other parameters including plot cover, days to 50% of flowering, leaf to stem ratio and survival rates of Chloris gayanagrass were significantly (pPanicum coloratum with collection PCHB024 produced the highest seed yield (192.1kg/ha). Whereas the dry matter recorded have no significant difference among the tested Panicum coloratum grass collections. Among Panicum coloratum grasses, PCHB024 also performs best in other agronomic and survival rate while improved Panicum coloratum variety (check) recorded the highest (14.9%) in crude protein content as compared to the other collections. The two years combined analysis indicated the highest mean seed yield (393.2kg/ha) were recorded for CCMk019 followed by CCWB010 and CCUM012 species. The two years mean showed that the highest dry matter yield (2.58t/ha) was recorded from CCUM012. The tested Cenchrus celiaris grass collections were also significantly different in all evaluated agronomic and quality parameters. Generally, the performances of local and improved grasses of the same species are comparable in most parameters. However, the survival rates of local grass after the establishment were found to be better than that of improved varieties. Among the tested perennial grasses, CGAB02, PCHB024and CCUM012andCCWB010 from Chloris gayana, Panicum coloratum and Cenchrus celiaris grass species respectively were performed best in most important parameters. These best performed local grasses should be further evaluated at on farm condition on degraded grazing lands.},
     year = {2023}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Collection and Nursery Evaluation of Native Perennial Grass Species for Forage Production in Mid Rift Valley of Oromia, Ethiopia
    AU  - Nebi Husein
    AU  - Dawit Abate
    AU  - Meseret Tilahun
    AU  - Lalisa Diriba
    AU  - Usman Seman
    AU  - Fikedu Nemera
    Y1  - 2023/09/06
    PY  - 2023
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajbes.20230902.12
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ajbes.20230902.12
    T2  - American Journal of Biological and Environmental Statistics
    JF  - American Journal of Biological and Environmental Statistics
    JO  - American Journal of Biological and Environmental Statistics
    SP  - 19
    EP  - 26
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2471-979X
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajbes.20230902.12
    AB  - The study was conducted with the intention to collect and evaluate locally available perennial grasses for their performances. Thus, seeds of 30 perennial grass collections representing 6 species were collected from different areas. Before conducting the actual trial, seeds of collected grass were sown at on-station for seed increase. Among the collected grasses, the species that produced adequate seeds were used for their performance evaluation. Accordingly, 15 grasses from Cenchrus celiaris, 5 grasses from Chloris gayana and 3 grasses from Panicum coloratum collections were tested for agronomic, yield and quality parameters for two consecutive years. Improved varieties from each species were included as a check for making comparisons. The experiment was arranged in randomized block design with three replications. The overall mean value indicated that Chloris gayana grass with collection CGAB02 produced significantly (pChloris gayana were not significantly differ among the tested grass species. Other parameters including plot cover, days to 50% of flowering, leaf to stem ratio and survival rates of Chloris gayanagrass were significantly (pPanicum coloratum with collection PCHB024 produced the highest seed yield (192.1kg/ha). Whereas the dry matter recorded have no significant difference among the tested Panicum coloratum grass collections. Among Panicum coloratum grasses, PCHB024 also performs best in other agronomic and survival rate while improved Panicum coloratum variety (check) recorded the highest (14.9%) in crude protein content as compared to the other collections. The two years combined analysis indicated the highest mean seed yield (393.2kg/ha) were recorded for CCMk019 followed by CCWB010 and CCUM012 species. The two years mean showed that the highest dry matter yield (2.58t/ha) was recorded from CCUM012. The tested Cenchrus celiaris grass collections were also significantly different in all evaluated agronomic and quality parameters. Generally, the performances of local and improved grasses of the same species are comparable in most parameters. However, the survival rates of local grass after the establishment were found to be better than that of improved varieties. Among the tested perennial grasses, CGAB02, PCHB024and CCUM012andCCWB010 from Chloris gayana, Panicum coloratum and Cenchrus celiaris grass species respectively were performed best in most important parameters. These best performed local grasses should be further evaluated at on farm condition on degraded grazing lands.
    VL  - 9
    IS  - 2
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Adami Tulu Agricultural Research Center, Ziway, Ethiopia

  • Adami Tulu Agricultural Research Center, Ziway, Ethiopia

  • Adami Tulu Agricultural Research Center, Ziway, Ethiopia

  • Adami Tulu Agricultural Research Center, Ziway, Ethiopia

  • Adami Tulu Agricultural Research Center, Ziway, Ethiopia

  • Adami Tulu Agricultural Research Center, Ziway, Ethiopia

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