Productivity and Feed Quality Performance of Napier Grass (Cenchrus purpureus) Genotypes Growing under Different Soil Moisture Levels

Abstract

In the semi-arid and arid environments of Sub-Sharan Africa, forage availability throughout the year is insufficient and highly limited during the dry seasons due to limited precipitation. Thus, the identification of drought stress-tolerant forage cultivars is one of the main activities in forage development programs. In this study, Napier grass (Cenchrus purpureus), an important forage crop in Eastern and Central Africa that is broadly adapted to produce across tropical environments, was evaluated for its water use efficiency and production performance under field drought stress conditions. Eighty-four Napier grass genotypes were evaluated for their drought stress tolerance from 2018 to 2020 using agro-morphological and feed quality traits under two soil moisture stress regimes during the dry season, i.e., moderate (MWS) and severe (SWS) water stress conditions, and under rainfed conditions in the wet season (wet). Overall, the results indicated the existence of genotype variation for the traits studied. In general, the growth and productivity of the genotypes declined under SWS compared to MWS conditions. High biomass-yielding genotypes with enhanced WUE were consistently observed across harvests in each soil moisture stress regime. In addition, the top biomass-yielding genotypes produced the highest annual crude protein yield, indicating the possibility of developing high-feed-quality Napier grass genotypes for drought stress environments.

Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum Schum) management strategies for dairy and meat production in the tropics and subtropics: yield and nutritive value

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“…Water also affects the quality of Napier grass varieties ( Habte et al., 2022 ). These authors reported that Napier grass NDF, ADF, and lignin decreased but CP and ME increased under water stress conditions.…”

“…Selecting the right variety can make a huge difference in increasing yield. Yield (t DM/ha) of different varieties under the same management condition ranged from 2.7 to 68.1 t ( n = 84; Habte et al., 2022 ) in Ethiopia, 13 to 42 t ( n = 80, Schneider et al., 2018 ) in Brazil, 17 to 42 t ( n = 22, Kabirizi et al., 2015 ) in Uganda, 19 to 34 t ( n = 3, Kabirizi et al., 2015 ) in Kenya, 13 to 34 t ( n = 6, Khairani et al., 2013 ) in Japan, and 8 to 74 t ( n = 18, Zhang et al., 2010 ) in China. This literature demonstrates that yield can simply be multiplied up to 25 times ( Habte et al., 2022 ) by selecting the right variety.…”

“…(2010) reported that Kikuyu grass ( Pennisetum clandestinum ex chiov), a C 4 Pennisetum species similar to Napier grass, contains ~20 g CP/kg DM and ~10 MJ/kg DM at 16 days of harvest interval (HI; and 4.5 leaf stage), which could be taken as an ideal quality of Napier grass. The range of CP (45–243 g/kg DM) and ME (6.68–9.58 MJ/kg DM) reported by Habte et al. (2022) suggests that it is also possible to manage Napier grass in the tropics as high quality as ryegrass in the temperate zone, or similar to the Kikuyu grass ( Fulkerson et al., 2010 ).…”

Effect of dietary inclusion of Pennisetum purpureum (Napier) grass on growth performance, rumen fermentation and meat quality of feedlot sussex red steers

“…Its preference is based on its ability to adapt to high temperature and radiation; tolerate drought and capacity to grow in sandy soils (Carballo et al, 2019 ). This grass is highly valued by farmers particularly for cattle feed in semi-arid regions (Habte et al, 2022 ). Despite its preference as a feed resource in SA, Weeping lovegrass is a C 4 perennial grass that has threatened natural ecosystems globally (Roberts et al, 2021 ).…”