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EFFECT OF PLANTING PATTERNS AND CUTTING INTERVALS ON AGRONOMIC PERFORMANCE AND QUALITY OF PASTURE GRASS AND LEGUME
This study was conducted as three experiments to determine the best performing pasture grass cultivar for the study area in experiment I, to examine the best performing pasture legume cultivar for the study area in experiment II, to evaluate the appropriate planting pattern and cutting interval for optimum herbage yield and quality of the tested pasture grass and legume and to determine the suitable combination of planting pattern and cutting interval for optimum crop performance and quality of the tested pasture grass and legume in experiment III. All experiments were conducted at the upland field of Department of Agronomy, YAU from October 2016 to August 2018. Experiment I was designed as randomized complete block design with 4 replications. Tested grass cultivars were Mombasa, Cayman and Mulato II. Experiment II was laid out as randomized complete block design with 4 replications. Tested legume cultivars were Desmanthus, Butterfly pea, Stylo and Burgundy. Experiment III was laid out as split plot design with 3 replications. In experiment III, main plot factor was planting patterns and sub plot factor was cutting intervals. Planting patterns included grass sole cropping, legume sole cropping and grass legume intercropping and cutting intervals consisted of 3-month cutting, 6-month cutting, 9-month cutting and 12-month cutting. There were 4 cuttings for 3-month cutting interval, 2 cuttings for 6-month cutting interval, 1 cutting each for 9-month and 12-month cutting intervals during the experimental period. Tested grass and legume cultivars were Mombasa and Butterfly pea. As agronomic characters, plant heights were measured every month after planting. Tiller numbers per hill for pasture grasses in experiment I and III were counted before cutting. Fresh weight and leaf area were measured after cutting and dry weight was recorded after cutting and oven drying. The dried samples were analyzed for total nitrogen (N) to calculate crude protein (CP) content (%), acid detergent fiber (ADF) content (%), neutral detergent fiber (NDF) content (%) and organic matter (OM) content (%). The results of experiment I showed, among tested pasture grass cultivars, plant height of Mombasa was significantly higher than those of Cayman and Mulato II. Higher plant height of Mombasa also leaded to heavier fresh and dry weight, resulting in increased forage yield of that cultivar compared to the remaining two cultivars. Increased forage yield of Mombasa could provide higher crude protein, relative feed value and organic matter yield. Therefore, Mombasa could be considered as the best performing grass cultivar for pasture grass farming in the study area and used as tested grass cultivar in experiment III. The findings of experiment II of leafy portions for livestock production. Therefore, Butterfly pea was selected for experiment III due to leafy and more nutritious than other tested legumes after Desmanthus. In experiment III results, among cropping patterns, forage yield was the highest in grass sole cropping as the result of higher plant height, fresh weight and dry weight. Moreover, grass legume intercropping also produced higher plant height and dry matter yield which were not significantly different from those of grass sole cropping. Nutritive value such as CP, RFV and OM of grass legume intercropping was higher than those of sole croppings. Except from land equivalent ratio (LER) for 6-month cutting intervals, biomass yield and nutritional composition of each cutting intervals was greater than 1, indicating the yield benefit from intercropping. Among cutting intervals, forage yield and nutritive value such as CP, RFV and OM were highest under 3-month cutting interval. From the results, it can be recommended that grass legume intercropping with 3-month cutting should be adopted to improve not only for forage yield but also for nutritive value of pasture grass and legume farming in the study area