Greener Journal of Agricultural Sciences

Greener Journal of Agricultural Sciences Vol. 7 (6), pp. 132-136, August 2017.

ISSN: 2276-7770 

Research Article

Manuscript Number: 080817102

 

(DOI: http://doi.org/10.15580/GJAS.2017.6.080817102)

 

Biomass Yield and Biological Potential of Grass (Chloris         gayana) and Legume (Medicago sativa) Mixtures under Variable Seed Rates in Southern Region of Ethiopia

 

Mergia Abera

 

Southern Agricultural Research Institute, P.O Box 6, Hawassa, Ethiopia.

Abstract

 

The study was conducted at Hawassa Agricultural Research Center in Ethiopia to determine the optimum seed rate proportion of mixtures of Chloris gayana (CG) and Medicago sativa (MS) for obtaining higher dry matter yield (DM) from the mixtures. CG and MS were planted as pure stand and in mixtures using 75%(CG) + 25%(MS), 50%(CG) + 50%(MS), 25%(CG) + 75%(MS), 0%(CG) + 100%(MS) and 100%(CG) + 0%(MS),100%(CG) + 25% (MS) and 100%(CG) +50%(MS) seed rate proportion in a randomized complete block design with three replications. There were significant (P < 0.05) differences in the crud protein and lignin of the grass components among the grass/legume combinations due to seed rate proportions. Not significant (P > 0.05) effects were observed on the DM, the relative yield (RY) and the relative total yield (RTY). However; the 50: 50% mixture gave higher DM yield and had the highest RTY than other mixtures. From this result, it is concluded that 50: 50% mixture was found to be the optimum seed rate proportion to develop a balanced grass-legume mixture. In addition, further studies need to be undertaken under varying environments and harvesting strategies.

 

Keywords: Forage yield, Biological Potential, Chloris gayana, Medicago sativa and mixtures.

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