Leucaena Production in Arid Botswana

The value of browse species as a source of nitrogen for grazing animals is restricted to wet seasons, with protein deficiencies being experienced by September (in dry winter season) in Southern Africa (Moleele 1998). This is when highly productive planted browse species would become useful to supplement the protein diet requirement of grazing animals (Morris & Du Toit 1998). Further, browse species can provide partly for protein requirement of intensive production systems, such as in feedlots and dairies. This paper reports work on the introduction and screening of Leucaena for Botswana conditions

Effect of Plant Population and Phosphorus Fertilizer Application on Dry Matter and Seed Yield of Two Lablab (\u3cem\u3eLablab Purpureus\u3c/em\u3e) Varieties in Botswana

Lablab has high potential as a protein source to grazing livestock especially during the dry season in arid Botswana. It produced 8.5t dry matter (DM)/ha and had 14% crude protein with 60% digestibility (APRU, 1988; Aganga, 2003). Lack of agronomic data on lablab production was probably the reason why some farmers in Botswana got yields as low as 300 kg/ha (APRU, 1987). Therefore, a trial of two lablab varieties was conducted to determine the effect of plant population and phosphorus (P) on DM yield