Geflügel, Fischerei und Wildtierwissenschaften
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Abstrakt

On-farm Performance Evaluation of Selected Perennial Grass under Rain- Fed Conditions at Deghabour District, Cherer Zone, Ethiopian Somali Region

Abdo Mohamed and Kefyalew Gebeyew

The study was conducted to evaluate the adaptability and performance of some improved perennial forage species. Completely randomized block design were employed with three treatments and the treatments were replicated three times. The seeds of the forage species were row planted on finely prepared seed bed on nine plots. At the end of the experiment sample from forge species were taken analyzed for nutritional value. Crude protein, dry matter, ash, NDF and ADL were analyzed in Haramaya university nutrition laboratory. Data on plant height, numbers of branch per plant, fresh and dry biomass yield, germination and maturity date of the experimental treatments were collected and analyzed by using general linear model procedure of SAS. The germination and maturity date of the experimental treatments are presented. Analysis of variance shows that there no significant different among the treatments in both parameter. However the germination date of panicum maximum slightly earlier than the other two treatments and also late maturity compared to buffalo grass and Rhodes grass. The biomass yield both in terms of fresh and dry biomass of the experimental treatments in this study are significantly different (P<0.0001). The fresh biomass yield of panicum maximum is significantly greater than both Rhodes grass and buffalo grass. Similarly the dry mass yield of panicum maximum is significantly larger than the other two treatments (P<0001). According to the finding of the current study, the mean plant height and branches per plant of the experimental treatments are presented. The analysis of variance shows that there are significant different in the number of branches, but the plant height for Rhodes grass is significantly larger than the other experimental treatments (buffalo grass and panicum maximum). The results of the laboratory analysis and estimation of nutritive values of the different experimental treatments are shown. The study revealed that the dry matter percentage of the three treatments, buffalo grass, Rhodes grass and panicum maximum are 92.96, 92.57 and 92.81 respectively, which indicate there is no significant different in dry matter percentage among the treatments. The crude protein content of Rhodes grass (15.49) is  numerically larger than buffalo grass (13.37) and panicum maximum (14.17). As a conclusion, introduction of improved perennial forage species such as buffalo grass, Rhodes grass and panicum maximum in the study area revealed better performance. Therefore, based the finding of the current study the following future work can be recommended. The main challenge in the present study was lack of intensive agronomic practice that has negative impact on the overall performance of the forage species. Hence, it is will be better to undertake further study in large scale with appropriate agronomic package under irrigated condition rather than rain fed.