logo
    Grass and herbaceous plants for biomass [Pennisetum purpureum, Leucaena leucocephala, Saccharus spp.].
    0
    Citation
    0
    Reference
    20
    Related Paper
    Keywords:
    Pennisetum purpureum
    Herbaceous plant
    Pennisetum
    Leucaena
    A field experiment was conducted in a wet tropical environment (Ciawi, West Java, Indonesia) to assess the forage yields of mixtures of leucaena and grasses over a 1 year period in plots which had been established 2 years earlier. The tree legume Leucaena leucocephala cv. Cunningham (plant density 1 m x 0.5 m), cut at either 30 cm or 100 cm, was interplanted with either a short grass (Setaria sphacelata var. splendida) or a tall grass (Pennisetum purpureum). Mineral nutrients were non-limiting. Highest leaf production was in the setaria monoculture (20.8 t ha-l yr-l) and the low-cut leucaena/setaria mixture (18.5 t ha-l yr-1), with the grass dominating production (> 88%) in the latter because of the ability of setaria to gain preferential access to light penetrating between the rows of leucaena early in each growth period. Leucaena shoot production in the low-cut leucaena treatments was reduced from a mean of 8.8 t ha-1 yr-1 in the monocultures to 1.5 t ha-l yr-1 in the mixtures. For the high-cut leucaena treatments, grass leaf yields were lower from the mixtures than from the monocultures but leucaena shoot yields were only reduced from monoculture yields in the mixture with pennisetum. The mixture of setaria and high-cut leucaena produced a considerable yield of setaria leaf (6.2 t ha-1 yr-l) with no reduction in leucaena leaf yields and intercepted a significantly greater percentage of total incident light (64%) than the other three mixtures (42-42%).
    Leucaena
    Setaria
    Monoculture
    Pennisetum purpureum
    Pennisetum
    Panicum
    Setaria viridis
    Citations (7)
    Fallow is one of the methods used to restore soils fertility and to produce fodder for domestic animals. The objective of this study was to compare the biomass yields of different species of shrubs and grasses in contrasting soils in South Kivu Province in the Eastern of Democratic Republic of Congo. The experimental design was a randomized block containing four repetitions. Each repetition contained four plots corresponding to four species of gramineas (Pennisetum purpureum, Setaria sphacelata, Brachiaria ruziziensis and Tripsacum laxnum) or shrubs (Albizzia chinensis, Leucaena diversifolia, Calliandra calothyrsus and Leucaena leucocephala). Highly significant differences (P = 0.001) were observed between species and between sites for all observed parameters. The quantities of biomass produced by the Pennisetum in the two sites (29.31 t/ha) were significantly higher than those produced by the 3 others species followed by Setaria (19.54 t/ha), Brachiaria (13.84 t/ha) and Tripsacum (13.8 t/ha). The same trend was observed for shrubs species, the quantities of biomass produced by the Calliandra in the two sites (11 t/ha) were significantly higher (P = 0.001) than those produced by the 3 others species followed by Leucaena diversifolia (8 t/ha), Leucaena leucocephala (3 t/ha) and Albizia chinensis (2 t/ha). Concerning the sites, a highest significant difference was observed between the two sites, the biomass yields produced at Mulungu (7.3 and 23.7 t/ha) were significantly higher than those for Mushinga (4.7 and 14.5 t/ha), for shrubs and gramineas respectively. For forage biomass production and soil productivity restoration, the combination of Calliandra and Leucaena diversifolia, and pennisetum-setaria can be used as improved fallow in the conditions of the trial sites. There is a need for follow-up research on soil production restoration to include these four species in trial at both sites in South Kivu Province.
    Brachiaria
    Pennisetum purpureum
    Pennisetum
    Citations (1)
    Sixteen accessions of Leucaena leucocephala, L. pallida and L. diversifolia and their interspecific hybrids were assessed for psyllid resistance, agronomic performance and forage quality in subtropical south-east Queensland. All accessions except the 4 L. leucocephala lines, L. diversifolia (K156) and its hybrid with L. leucocephala (K8) exhibited moderate-high psyllid resistance, fast seedling growth, high dry matter production and cool tolerance. However, their forage quality, as indicated by in vitro dry matter digestibility and chemical composition, was inferior to that of L. leucocephala. Condensed tannin concentration, in particular, was higher in the non-L. leucocephala lines and this was associated with lower IVDMD and higher psyllid resistance. The implications for development of these lesser-known Leucaena species for forage use are discussed.
    Leucaena
    Citations (18)
    An experiment was conducted to study the effects of rates of fertiliser nitrogen (N) and grass-legume associations on seasonal and annual dry matter production and forage quality factors of signal grass (Brachiaria decumbens). This study was also designed to es timate the amounts of N2 fixed over the first two years of establishment by pure stands of leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala cv. ML 1) and stylo (Stylosanthes guianensis cv. Schofield) or their mixtures with signal grass. Leucaena and s tylo were either grown in pure swards or mixed in various combinations wi th signal grass unfertilised with N. Dry matter production from legumebased pasture was compared with signal grass fertilised with urea at 0, 200, 400, 600 or 800 kg N ha-1yr-1.
    Brachiaria
    Leucaena
    Stylosanthes
    Citations (1)
    Tropical fodder trees are commonly used as supplement to grass feeding. Usually supplemental foliage is used without any additional energy source. Therefore, the potential of fodder trees to increase microbial biomass production (due to foliage N capture for microbial growth) might not be achieved. In addition, it has been suggested that forage digestibility might be stimulated if an energy source, ideally, locally available, is provided with the foliage. Thus, the objective of the present experiment was to assess the DMD of Leucaena leucocephala and Manihot esculenta (cassava) mixtures, and the in vitro gas production of Leucaena-cassava-grass mixtures.
    Pennisetum purpureum
    Leucaena
    Fodder
    Pennisetum
    Manihot
    Multipurpose tree
    Manihot esculenta
    Energy source
    Citations (0)