Review Article
Austin J Nutr Metab. 2023; 10(1): 1129.
Evaluation of Rhodes Grass (Chloris Gayana) Cultivars for Forage Yield and Yield Components at Highland and Midland of Guji Zone Southern Oromia
Teshale Jabessa*; Ketema Bekele; Getachew Tesfaye
Oromia Agricultural Research Institute, Bore Agricultural Research Center, Bore, Ethiopia
*Corresponding author: Teshale Jabessa Oromia Agricultural Research Institute, Bore Agricultural Research Center, Bore, Ethiopia. Email: teshalejabessa@gmail.com
Received: July 03, 2023 Accepted: August 08, 2023 Published: August 15, 2023
Abstract
The study was conducted with the objectives to identify and select better adaptable, higher herbage yielding forage variety. Five Rhodes grass cultivars (Masaba, ILRI- 6633, ILRL-7384, ILRL-13325 and Dz-253) were used and arranged in RCBD with three replications. All agronomic characteristics and biomass yield data were collected and the collected data were analyzed using SAS statistical analysis version 9.1. The results of analyzed data indicated that dry matter yield was showed statistically significant (P<0.05) difference among Rhodes grass cultivars. Seed yield (qt/ha-1) was showed statistically significant (P<0.05) variation among the treatments at both agro-ecologies. The highest herbage dry matter yield and seed yield were recorded from ILRI-7384 (15.44 t/ha-1) followed ILRI-6633 (14.9 t/ha-1). The highest seed yield at high land agro-ecologies were recorded from ILRI-6633 cultivar 1 (qu/ha-1) and Masaba 0.83 (qu/ha-1) variety. As a result, these three Rhodes grass ILRI-6633, ILRI-7384 and Masaba variety were recommended for livestock producers as feed resources to enhance animal production and productivity in the study areas and other with similar agro-ecologies.
Keywords: Choloris gayana; Evaluation; Guji; Masaba; Rhodes
Introduction
Ethiopia has a massive livestock population and the demand for livestock products is aggregate because of urbanization, population growth and an improving economic situation. However, the contribution of this sector to the country’s economy is much lower than its potential due to management and breed related factors. Thus, to exploit the huge potential of the livestock sector Ethiopia has to address the major constraints of the sector. One of the major constraints is shortage of feed in terms of both quality and quantity. This problem is especially severe during the long dry season [1].
Rhodes grass (Chloris gayana) is now widespread in tropical and subtropical areas worldwide. Rhodes grass is a perennial or annual tropical leafy grass 1-2 m in height, highly variable in habit. The culms are tufted or creeping, erect or decumbent, sometimes rooting from the nodes. The inflorescences are light greenish brown (rarely yellow) in color and turn darker brown as they mature [2]. Rhodes grass thrives in places where annual temperatures range 25 to 30°C (day/night temperature). Optimal annual rainfall ranges between 600-750mm with a summer-rainfall period [3,4]. Rhodes grass grows better in areas where with an altitude ranges from 1400-2400 m.a.s.l [4]. Due to its deep roots, Rhodes grass can withstand long dry periods (over 6 months) and up to 15 days of flooding [2,5].
Rhodes grass grows on a wide range of soils from poor sandy soils to heavy clayey alkaline and saline soils. Rhodes grass grows better on fertile, well-structured soils and it prefers soil pH between 5.5 and 7.5; even if, establishment on acidic soils is challenging. Rhodes grass survives on infertile soils although it is unproductive and may eventually die out particularly if grazed regularly. Rhodes grass is a full sunlight species, which does not grow well under shady environments [5,4]. Growth performance of Rhodes grass varies with type of cultivar, age of plant and other environmental factors [6].
Rhodes grass yield mostly ranges from 7-25 tons of DM/ha per year, depending on variety, soil fertility, environmental conditions and cutting frequency. Based on a study conducted on farmers" fields in the central highlands of Ethiopia, on average the herbage yield of Rhodes grass was from 8.74 to 9.1 tons DM/ha per year on rain-fed conditions [2,7,8]. Though feed and food are pressing problems in Ethiopia, introduction of Rhodes grass and the evaluation of their adaptability to Ethiopian condition have not been done. This adaptation trial was conducted to evaluate the adaptability and productivity of different cultivars in highland and midland of the study area.
To overcome this bottleneck problem of livestock sector introducing of improved forages to stakeholders should have to be an obligatory and persistent activity that is expected from responsible service providers. Therefore, the objectives of the study were to select/recommend adaptable and high biomass yielding Rhodes grass cultivars for the study area and other areas having similar agro-ecologies.
Materials and Methods
Description of the Study Area
The experiment was carried out at Songo Baricha on station and Adola sub-site of Bore Agricultural Research Center in Guji Zone. Bore district is located at 385 km from from Finfinne and 220 km from the Guji Zone capital city (Negele) with geographical location of 557'23” to 626'52” N latitudes and 3825'51” to 3856'21” E longitudes, South-eastern Oromia. The annual rain fall is about 1400-1800 mm and the annual temperatures of the district ranged from 10.1 to 20oC. The major soil types of the site are mostly black soil. Bore Agricultural Research station is located at 7 km from Bore district which is geographically located at 624'37” N latitude and 3834'76” E longitudes. The research site represents highlands of Guji Zone with an altitude of 2736 m.a.s.l. receiving high rainfall characterized by bimodal distribution. The first rainy season extends from April to October and the second season starts late November and ends at the beginning of March.
Adola sub-site is located at Midland area of Bore Agricultural Research center located at Adola district and located at distance of 470 km from Addis Ababa and 120 km from the Zonal capital city. It is an area of a mixed farming and semi-nomadic economic activity takes place, which is the major livelihood of the local people. The total area of the District is 1254.56 km2 and situated at 5o44'10” - 6o12'38 N Latitudes and 38o45'10” - 39o12'37” E Longitudes. The District is characterized by three agro-climatic, namely highland (11%), midland (29%) and lowland (60%). The major soil type of the district is nit sols (red basaltic soils) and orthic Acrosols [9].
Experimental Treatments and Design
The experiment was conducted using five Rhodes grass varieties Masaba, DZ-253, ILRI- 6633 and ILRI-13325 using Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The seed were sown in rows spaced 20 cm between rows and 1 m, 1.5 m between plots and blocks respectively on plot size of 2 m x 1 m (2 m²). Seed rate, 15kg/ha-1, fertilizer and other agronomic forage crop production practices were adopted uniformly as per recommendation.
Methods of Data Collections
All relevant data like days to days to emergence, days to flowering, plant height, and leaf to stem ratio, fresh biomass and dry matter yield were carefully recorded. Plant height was taken from five plants randomly selected from each plot using a steel tape from the ground level to the highest leaf. For biomass yield data plants were cutting at 5-10 cm from the ground level from two central rows. In order to measure dry matter yield, the harvested fresh sample was measured right in field by sensitive balance and 300 g subsample per plot was brought to Bore Agricultural Research Center and the sampled sample was placed to oven dried for 72 hours at a temperature of 65oc for dry matter determination. Then dry matter yield (t/ha) was calculated by [10] formula.
The dry matter yield (t/ha) = TFW × (DWss /HA × FWss) ×10
Where TFW = total fresh weight kg/plot
DWss = dry weight of subsample in grams
FWss = fresh weight of subsample in grams
HA = Harvest plot area in square meters and 10 is a constant for conversion of yields in kg/m to t/ha.
Leaf to stem ration, the morphological parts were separately weighed to know their sample fresh weight, oven dried for 72 hours at a temperature of 65oC and separately weighed to estimate the proportions of these morphological parts.
Methods of Statistical Analysis
Data on statistical parameters of Rhodes grass accession were subjected to ANOVA based on the model designed for a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) according to [11] and using the computer software package of SAS version 9.1. Mean separations were tested using the Least Significance Difference (LSD) and significant level was considered at (P<0.05). The statistical model used for the RCBD design was:
Yijk= μ + Aj + Bi + eijk
Where; Yijk= response of variable under examination, μ = overall mean, Aj = the jth factor effect of treatment/ cultivar, Bi = the ith factor effect of block/ replication, eijk = the random error.
Result and Discussions
Days to 50% Emergency
The over year statistical data analysis results indicated that days to emergency was a significant difference (P<0.05) among the cultivars at both highland and midland agro-ecologies. This study required a range of 8.33-10.4 days for first emergence which is almost similar with the study conducted at Deghabour district of Ethiopian Somalia region [12], which was recorded 10.66 days. According to the result of [2] Rhodes grass germinates was 7 days after planting. The differences observed on day to emergency may probably due to the attributed to soil moisture content, soil fertility and other environmental factors together.
Days to 50% Flowering
The analyzed data of days to 50% flowering were shown highly significant (P<0.01) differences among the Rhodes grass cultivars at midland agro-ecologies. The shortest days to 50% flowering was recorded from ILRI- 6633 cultivar (72.67) and the late days of 50% flowering was recorded from Masaba variety (82 days) at midland agro-ecologies. This difference in days to 50 % flowering among treatments could be due to the attributed to genetic variation among cultivars and their interaction with the environment.
Plant Height (cm)
Plant height were shown non-significant (P>0.05) differences among the cultivars of Rhodes grass at both highland and lowland agro-ecology. The mean highest Plant Height (PH) of Rhodes grass (Chloris gayana) cultivars was (181.7 cm) recorded from DZ-253 cultivars. The average plant height of Rhodes grass cultivars recorded from the current study was almost different with result of [12] which was 139.1 cm and [13] revealed that plant height of Rhodes cultivars grown sole on savannah regions of Ethiopia at 8 weeks after sowing varied from 100.7-121 cm. The differences of plant height occurred from the current study might be due to genetic variation among cultivars and soil fertility differences.
Cultivars
DE
DF
LSR
DMYt/ha-1
FBMt/ha-1
PH (cm)
SYI qt/ha-1
ILRL-7384
20b
130
0.75
7.9
27ab
108.3
0.68ab
Masaba
22ab
128.7
0.83
9.6
25.83ab
109
0.66ab
ILRL-13325
22.33ab
129.3
0.6
8.4
28.8ab
101.2
0.83ab
DZ-253
23.33a
128.3
0.7
10.2
23.67b
97.1
0.5b
ILRI-6633
20.33ab
132.7
0.83
8.6
31a
113.2
1a
Mean
21.6
129.8
0.74
8.94
27.2
106.8
0.74
CV
7.1
2.1
28.7
26.2
10.1
8.8
30
LSD (5%)
*
NS
NS
NS
*
NS
*
DE=Days to Emergence, DF=Days to Flower, DM=Days to Maturity, LSR=Leaf to Stem Ratio, DMY=Dry Matter Yield, PH=Plant Height, CV=Coefficient Variation, LSD=Least Significant Different, NS =Non-Significant, *=Significant and SYI= Seed Yield.
Table 1: The mean value of yield and yield related components of year and location of Rhodes grass cultivars at highland agro-ecologies.
Leaf to Stem Ratio
Leaf to stem ratio were non-significant (P>0.05) differences among the cultivars of Rhodes grass from both highland and midland agro-ecologies. The highest values of leaf to stem ratio of Rhodes grass cultivars were recorded from Masaba and ILRI- 6633 which were (0.83) obtained at the midland agro-ecologies.
Dry Matter Yield (t/ha-1)
The result of combined data analysis showed that dry matter yield was shown a significant (P<0.05) differences among the cultivars at the midland agro-ecology (Table 2). The highest dry matter yield was recorded from ILRI-7384 cultivar (15.44 t/ha-1) followed by ILRI-6633 cultivars (14.9 t/ha-1). The result of the current result was higher than the work conducted at Adami Tulu Agricultural Research Center and Negele Arsi Farmers Training Center (FTC) also indicated that the average herbage dry biomass yield of Rhodes grass was range from 7.8-9.16 tons DM/ha-1 per year without manure application [14]. Also the current result obtained is higher than result obtained on farmers’ fields in the central highlands of Ethiopia, on average the herbage dry matter yield of Rhodes grass ranges from 8.74-9.1 tons DM ha-1 per year on rain-fed conditions [2,7-8].
Cultivar
DE
DF
LSR
DMY t/ha
FBMt/ha
PH (cm)
SYI qt/ha
ILRI-7384
8.33b
77b
0.59
15.44a
75
164.7
2.5ab
Masaba
10.67ab
82a
0.56
13.8ab
50.83
171
0.917b
ILRI-13325
10ab
77.6b
0.76
9.73b
58.42
171.7
2.66a
DZ-253
10.33ab
78.3ab
0.86
12.83ab
58.33
181.7
1.83ab
ILRI-6633
2.67a
72.67c
0.8
14.9a
52.92
171.7
2.66a
Mean
10.4
77.5
0.66
13.34
59.1
172.1
2.12
CV
13.5
2.8
26
18.8
22
5.5
39.7
LSD (5%)
*
**
NS
*
NS
NS
**
DE: Days to Emergence; DF: Days to Flower; DM: Days to Maturity; LSR: Leaf to Stem Ratio; DMY: Dry Matter Yield; PH: Plant Height; CV: Coefficient Variation; LSD: Least Significant Different; NS: Non-Significant; *: Significant, **: Highly Significant; SYI: Seed Yield.
Table 2: The mean value of yield and yield component over year and location of Rhodes grass cultivars at midland agro-ecologies.
Seed Yield (qu/ha-1)
The results of over year statistical data analysis indicates that seed yield were shown significant (P<0.01) difference among the cultivars at both midland and highland agro-ecologies (Table 1 & 2). The highest seed yield was recorded from ILRI- 6633 cultivar (2.66 qu/ha-1) and ILRI- 13325 cultivar (2.66 qu/ha-1) at midland agro-ecologies. The current result was lower compared with the result studied by [14,15] which means seed yield recorded were 3.706 and 3.139 Kg/ha-1 which was conducted at Adami Tulu Agricultural Research Center (ATARC) and Negele Arsi Farmers Training Center (FTC). The variation observed in the current study in seed yield might be due the difference in soil fertility and soil moisture content. On the other hand, climate and soil types or their interactions have effects on the performance of forage crops [16].
Conclusions and Recommendation
The forage and seed yields of most of the Rhodes grass cultivars evaluated were relatively good. The result of this study indicated that ILRI-6633 and ILRI-7384 at midland areas and ILRI- 6633 and Masaba variety for highland agro-ecologies were well adapted and being productive regarding to dry matter yield and seed yield. Those cultivars are hopefully adapted to fill the gap of low quantity ruminant feed supply of the community. Therefore based upon its adaptability, Dry matter yield and seed yield cultivar ILRI- 6633 and ILRI- 7384 for midland areas and ILRI- 6633 and Masaba varieties for highland areas of Guji zone.
Author Statements
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the Oromia Agricultural Research Institute (IQQO) for financial support to implement the study and Bore Agricultural Center Finance staff for facilitating logistics during study experiment trials.
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