On-farm evaluation of improved Brachiaria grasses in low rainfall and aluminium toxicity prone areas of Rwanda

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the production of improved Brachiaria grass in comparison with indigenous Brachiaria under low rainfall and aluminium toxicity areas of Rwanda. Three varieties and five hybrids of Brachiaria grass from CIAT and two local grasses (control) were used for on-farm participatory trials without fertilizer application. Twelve farms were selected in each study area and on each farm ten grasses were established in 2 × 3 m plots. Herbage was harvested six times during the year at two monthly intervals. Each cut, dry matter (DM) was measured. The crude protein (CP), calcium (Ca) and phosphorus (P) were also measured once in the wet season and once in the dry season. In the low rainfall area, Brachiaria brizantha cv. Toledo and Brachiaria decumbens (local) had the highest DM yields (5.71 and 5.61 t ha -1 respectively), while DM of the rest of the grasses ranged from 1.2 to 5.13 t ha -1 . In the acidic soil area, Brachiaria hybrid Bro2/1485 had higher DM (5.95 t ha -1 ) than the rest of the grasses (1 to 4.47 t ha -1 ). The highest quality grass was Brachiaria hybrid Bro2/1485 which obtained a CP value of 12.15% in the low rainfall area, whereas in the acidic soil area hybrid cv. Mulato II obtained the highest CP value of 11.6%. In the low rainfall area the Brachiaria hybrid cv. Mulato obtained a high mean Ca value of 2.15% while in the acidic soil area, cv. Marandu obtained a high Ca value of 2.41% during the wet and dry seasons. The cv. Toledo had high P (0.28%) compared to the other grasses (0.07 to 0.11%) in the low rainfall area. In the acidic soil area, the Brachiaria hybrid Bro2/1485 had high P of 0.53% as compared to other grasses in which P varied between 0.16 and 0.47%. Local control grasses had lower nutrients than the improved Brachiaria grass in the low rainfall and acidic soil area. Although, Brachiaria hybrid cv. Mulato II was not the most productive grass, it was selected by farmers as the preferred cultivar at both sites because of its adaptability to low rainfall and acidic soil stress, and its production of green forage year round without any input of fertilizer.

Homecoming of Brachiaria: Improved Hybrids Prove Useful for African Animal Agriculture

“…During participatory research with farmers on sites with low rainfall and acidic soils in 2007, among various Brachiaria commercial cultivars, released hybrids and advanced lines, cv. Mulato-II was preferred because of producing green forage year round without any fertilizer input, high above-ground biomass production, palatability, drought tolerance, quick regrowth, persistence, being a perennial and easy for cut-andcarry (Mutimura and Everson, 2012). Therefore, cv.…”

Production, Competition Indices, and Nutritive Values of Setaria splendida, Centrosema pubescens, and Clitoria ternatea in Mixed Cropping Systems in Peatland

“…The major limitation of livestock production is the lack of of livestock production is the lack of suitable fodder crops that can produce green forage year round (Mutimura & Everson, 2012). One of the logical approaches to increasing forage production to overcome these problems is pasture improvement by grass and legume mix cropping system (Ajayi et al, 2007).…”

Early Seedling Growth as a Tool to Assess the Tolerance of Urochloa brizantha Cultivars to Free Aluminium

“…Similar decreases in root growth in response to aluminium were found in Jatropha curcas (Rosado et al, 2012), sorghum (Too et al, 2014), and barley (Tamas et al, 2006) in studies that used a similar methodology (e.g., measuring the root growth in seedlings in paper rolls moistened with aluminium solutions). Studies using hydroponic (Giannakoula et al, 2010;Arroyave et al, 2011Arroyave et al, , 2013Matins et al, 2011;Ramos et al, 2012;Roselló et al, 2015), semi-hydroponic (Colombo et al, 2016), and even growth in soil methods (Mutimura & Everson, 2012) have found similar results, but these methods are expensive and time consuming. Hare and Cress (1997) reported that proline accumulation occurred when wheat was exposed to water deficits, and therefore was a function of osmotic regulation and cellular protection.…”

“…Selection has also been done under field conditions (Mutimura & Everson 2012), and using a semi-hydroponic method (Colombo et al, 2016), but these techniques may be expensive, difficult, and time consuming. Other alternatives may include early evaluation using germination tests or early seedling growth under controlled conditions (Custódio et al, 2002;Machado Neto et al, 2004;Custódio et al, 2009;Echer et al, 2010;Rosado et al, 2012), and the evaluation of some effective parameters in the cultivars.…”