Gatheru, M.

Ghimire, Sita R.

Mureithi, J.G.

Nekesa, C.O.

Njarui, Donald M.G.

Nyambati, E.M.

CGSpace (CGIAR)

 Paper ID: 1572 Theme 4. Biodiversity, conservation and genetic improvement of range and forage species Sub-theme 4.1. Plant genetic resources and crop improvement  Establishment and early growth of improved Brachiaria cultivars in different agro-ecological zones of Kenya  Donald M.G. Njarui1, Clotilda O. Nekesa2, Elkana M. Nyambati3, Mwangi Gatheru1, Sita R. Ghimire4, Joseph G. Mureithi5 1Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization, Machakos, Kenya 2Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization, Mtwapa, Kenya 3Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization, Naivasha, Kenya 4Biosciences eastern and central Africa- International Livestock Research Institute (BecA-ILRI) Hub, Nairobi, Kenya 5Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization - Headquarters, Nairobi, Kenya  Keywords: Brachiaria cultivars, Dry matter yield, Plant growth  Introduction Livestock feed scarcity is a salient feature in East Africa (Njarui et al., 2011) and it is a major constraint to livestock productivity particularly during the dry seasons. The recent interest in livestock development in Kenya fueled by rising demands of animal products has led to research in identifying drought tolerant, productive and persistence forages to support livestock productivity. Brachiaria grasses have shown a great potential in South America and Australia as livestock feed. It is the most widely cultivated forage in tropical America, with estimated acreage of 99 million hectares in Brazil alone (Jank et al., 2014), supporting a highly vibrant beef industry. Although the Brachiaria genus is native to East and Central Africa, its potential as livestock feed has not been exploited in the region because of limited research on its benefits. Several Brachiaria cultivars selected and improved in South America were introduced in East Africa and are being assessed for their contribution to livestock feed base in Kenya and Rwanda. This paper reports on preliminary results on establishment and early growth of eight Brachiaria cultivars under different climatic and soils in Kenya.  Materials and Methods Site: The experiment is being conducted at Mtwapa (coastal lowlands), Katumani (mid-altitude eastern region) and Ol joro Orok (central highlands) in Kenya. The elevation ranges from about 15 to 2400 m above sea level, with mean annual rainfall of 700-1300 mm (Table 1). All the sites experience bimodal rainfall, with a long rainy season from March to May and a short rainy season from October to December.   Table 1: Location, elevation, temperature, rainfall and soils at experimental sites  Description Sites Mtwapa Katumani Ol joro Orok Latitude 3o 56’S 1o 35’S 0o 04’S  Longitude 39o 44’E 37o 14’E 36o 06’E  Altitude (masl) 15 1600 2400 Mean temperature (oC) 26.0 19.6 13.9 Annual rainfall (mm) 1200 710 988 Soil type Sandy roam Chromic luvisols Luvisols Agro-ecological zone* CL3 LM4 UH2-3 *CL=Coastal lowland, LM=Lower Midlands, UH=Upper Midlands  Treatments and design: Eight Brachiaria cultivars (Brachiaria brizantha cvs. Marandu, MG4, Piatã and Xaraes, B. decumbens cv. Basilisk, B. humidicola cvs. Humidicola and Llanero, and B. hybrid cv. Mulato II) are being evaluated. Rhodes grass (Chloris gayana cv. KAT R3) and Napier (Pennisetum purpureum cv. Kakamega 1) were included as controls. The design of the experiment was randomized complete block with three replications. The plot sizes are 4 m by 5 m with 1 m between plots and replications. The land was ploughed and harrowed to a fine tilth followed by hand sowing of the seeds in furrows of about 2 cm depth at inter-row spacing of 50 cm in November 2013. A seed rate of 5 kg/ha was used for all the grasses except Napier. For Napier, a single root split was planted per hole dug at 30 cm depth at 1 x 1 m  spacing. Triple super phosphate (TSP) fertilizer was applied during planting at a rate of 40 kg P/ha. The plots are hand weeded as necessary.   Data collection and statistical analysis: The data recorded included; number of plant, tiller numbers, plant height and spread at every 4 weeks and dry matter (DM) determination at end of establishment phase (16 weeks after seedling emergence). Plant numbers, spread, height, tillers and plot cover were measured using procedure described by Njarui and Wandera (2004). The data on plant numbers, spread and height was analyzed using analysis of variance procedure of SAS (SAS, 1991).  Results and Discussion Only the results at 16 weeks after seedling emergence are reported. The cv. Humidicola was excluded from the results due to poor seedling emergence. There were significant (P<0.05) interaction between grasses cultivars and sites for plant numbers, spread and height. The highest plant numbers were recorded at Katumani and lowest at Ol joro Orok. Basilisk and MG4 attained the highest number at Katumani (>25 plants/m2) while Mulato II and Xaraes had the lowest plant numbers at Ol joro Orok (<9 plants/m2) (Table 2). Generally the grasses were tallest and attained greatest spread at Mtwapa, and were shortest and had lowest spread at Ol joro Orok. Llanero attained the greatest spread at Katumani (147 cm) and spread more than the other grasses including the controls, Rhodes and Napier grasses in all the sites (Table 2). The hybrid Mulato II and cvs.  Piata and Xaraes were the tallest at Mtwapa although they were shorter (P<0.05) than both controls (Table 3). The fast growth at Mtwapa was attributed to relatively high temperature while the slow growth at Ol joro Orok was due low temperature for the Brachiaria. The high spread for Llanero was attributed to its prostrate growth habit compared with the other erect grasses.   Table 2: Plant numbers and spread of Brachiaria grass cultivars across three locations at 16 weeks after seedling emergence  Plant number/m2 Plant spread (cm) Grasses Katumani Mtwapa Ol joro Orok Katumani Mtwapa Ol joro Orok Brachiaria decumbens cv. Basilisk 26.0 14.8 10.0 60.4 77.8 83.6 B. humidicola cv. Llanero - - - 146.9 72.9 67.8 B. brizantha cv. Marandu 16.5 11.8 10.3 49.7 67.8 35.4 B. brizantha cv. MG4 27.3 20.8 10.8 58.6 61.9 57.2 B. hybrid cv. Mulato II 19.5 9.5 7.8 40.7 61.7 20.8 B. brizantha cv. Piata 8.3 16.5 10.0 56.4 67.5 37.2 B. brizantha cv. Xaraes 11.8 13.0 8.8 47.4 61.9 33.4 Chloris gayana cv. KAT R3 22.5 29.0 12.0 60.0 105.2 111.8 Pennisetum purpureum cv. Kakamega I  - - - 72.2 34.6 84.9 LSD (P <0.05)  17.5   24.0   Table 3: Plant height of Brachiaria grass cultivars across three locations at 16 weeks of seedling emergence Grasses Katumani Mtwapa Ol joro Orok Plant height (cm) Brachiaria decumbens cv. Basilisk 35.6 53.0 22.3 B. humidicola cv. Llanero 6.0 46.0 4.7 B. brizantha cv. Marandu 13.2 48.7 7.2 B. brizantha cv. MG4 63.4 57.7 25.2 B. hybrid cv. Mulato II 14.2 71.9 4.0 B. brizantha cv. Piata 29.8 65.5 8.2 B. brizantha cv. Xaraes 24.9 67.0 6.6 Chloris gayana cv. KAT R3 52.2 107.4 67.5 Pennisetum purpureum cv. Kakamega 1 103.8 73.5 103.3 LSD (P <0.05)  22.0   There were significant (P<0.05) interaction between grasses and sites for the DM yield. Generally, DM yields were highest at Mtwapa with most of the Brachiaria cultivars attaining over 6 t/ha. Xaraes had the highest yield (9.6 t/ha) at Mtwapa and out yielded Llanero and the controls (Figure 1). At Katumani all the Brachiaria cultivars yielded less than 5 t/ha of DM. At Ol joro Orok, only Basilisk and Xaraes attained over 8 t/ha, the rest had less than 5 t/ha but they all  produced less yield than the controls at that site. The high DM yield at Mtwapa was attributed to higher rainfall than in the other sites. The correlation between DM yield and plant growth attributes is given in Table 4. Highly significant correlation was observed between plant spread and DM yield (r=0.251; P<0.01), between plot cover and DM yield (r=0.548; P<0.01) and between plant height and DM yield (r=0.536; P<0.01). This means that as spread, height and cover increased, DM yield also increased.        Fig. 1: Dry matter yield of Brachiaria cultivars across three locations at 16 week after seedling emergence  Table 4: Correlation between herbage dry matter yield and plant growth attributes of Brachiaria grass cultivars  DM yield Plant population Plant spread Tiller numbers Plot cover Plant height DM yield 1      Plant population -0.0493 1     Spread 0.2506** 0.1468 1    Tiller numbers 0.1328 0.3537** 0.1573 1   Plot cover 0.5483** 0.3783** 0.3803** -0.1104 1  Plant height 0.5364** 0.4144** 0.2957* -0.1948 0.5768**  1 Correlation significant at P<0.01** and at P<0.05*  Conclusion There were differences in establishment and growth among Brachiaria cultivars with Xaraes out yielding the controls at Mtwapa. There is need to continue monitoring these grasses for more seasons to ascertain their persistence, productivity and nutritive value.  References Jank, L., S. C. Barrios, C. B. do Valle, R. M. Simeão and G. F. Alves. 2014. The value of improved pastures to Brazilian beef production. Crop and Pasture Science, published first online 2014 Mar. 11 at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/CP13319. Njarui, D. M. G., M. Gatheru, J. M. Wambua, S. N. Nguluu, D. M. Mwangi and G. A. Keya. 2011. Feeding management for dairy cattle in smallholder farming systems of semi-arid tropical Kenya. Livestock Research for Rural Development. Volume 23, Article #111. Retrieved from http://www.lrrd.org/lrrd23/5/njar23111 .htm. Njarui, D. M. G. and F. P. Wandera. 2004. Effect of cutting frequency of five selected herbaceous legumes and five grasses in semi-arid tropical Kenya. Tropical Grasslands 38: 158-166. SAS, 1991. SAS/STAT User’s Guide, Version 6th edn. SAS Institute Inc., Cary, North Carolina, USA. 1028 p. 0246810121416Katumani Mtwapa Ol joro OrokDM yield (t/ha)Sitescv. Basiliskcv. Llanerocv. Maranducv. MG4cv. Mulato IILSD (P<0.05)

Establishment and early growth of improved Brachiaria cultivars in different agro-ecological zones of Kenya

https://cgspace.cgiar.org/bitstream/10568/78198/1/igc2015_donald.pdf

Establishment and early growth of improved Brachiaria cultivars in different agro-ecological zones of Kenya

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

CGSpace (CGIAR)