The Desert Margins Programme Approaches in Upscaling Best-Bet Technologies in Arid and Semi-arid Lands in Kenya

Esilaba, Anthony O.; Okoti, Michael; Nyariki, Dickson M.; Keya, George A.; Miriti, J.M.; Kigomo, John N.; Olukoye, Godfrey Alati; Wekesa, L.; Ego, W.; Muturi, Gabriel M.; Cheruiyot, H. K.

doi:10.1007/978-90-481-2543-2_120

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Pennisetum purpureum Schumach. ), is an important forage grass in tropical and sub-tropical environments, growing mainly from sea level up to 2000 m.a.s.l., with the best growth at temperatures ranging from 25 to 40 °C [ 8 , 9 ]. Napier grass is also considered a short-term drought-tolerant forage, an important characteristic in areas that frequently face drought stress conditions [ 10 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Habte¹,

Gari²,

Muktar³

et al. 2022

Plants

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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.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Habte¹,

Gari²,

Muktar³

et al. 2022

Plants

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“…is experiencing such expansion, with its cultivation being extended beyond its traditional high‐ to medium‐rainfall environments. The grass is increasingly grown in marginal agro‐ecological zones with low rainfall to support dairy production in much of East Africa and the Tropics generally …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The grass is increasingly grown in marginal agro-ecological zones with low rainfall to support dairy production in much of East Africa and the Tropics generally. 3,4 Although Napier grass is generally regarded as drought tolerant, its productivity, persistence and regeneration can be constrained by transient and prolonged water stress. 5 Maintenance of favourable tissue moisture is critical to the survival and productivity of plants in dry environments.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of Napier grass accessions in lowland and highland tropical environments of East Africa: water stress indices, water use and water use efficiency

Mwendia

Yunusa

Sindel

et al. 2016

J. Sci. Food Agric.

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“…The semi-arid lands have low fertility soils, especially low organic carbon (< 1.0%) and nitrogen (< 0.2%) (Queiroz et al, 2018;NAAIAP, 2014;Esilaba et al, 2011;Lal, 2004) due to scarcity of organic materials for decomposition, nitrogen losses through de-nitrification, leaching and volatilization at prevailing high temperatures and soil erosion. Among the macro elements required for crop production in semi-arid lands, nitrogen is very limiting in sorghum growing regions in Kenya (NAAIAP, 2014;Itabari et al, 2013), East Africa (Egeru et al, 2019) and beyond (Queiroz et al, 2018;Lal, 2004) and requires to be applied to soil for increased productivity depending on soil nitrogen status, weather, rainfall amounts, intended yield and nutritional status (Workat et al, 2020;Wang et al, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of nitrogen fertilizer on nitrogen use efficiency and yield of selected sorghum genotypes in semi-arid regions of Kenya

Kathuli

Kinama

Kitonyo

et al. 2023

EAJSTI

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Sorghum production in semi-arid lands is constrained by inadequate soil moisture and low nitrogen. Research was carried out between 2018-2020 to determine the effect of nitrogen fertilizer on nitrogen use efficiency, yield on selected sorghum genotypes and genotypes suitable for low soil fertility in semi-arid lands. The experiment was a randomized complete block design in a split-plot arrangement with 11 sorghum genotypes in the main plot and nitrogen (0, 6.5 and 32.5 kgha-1) as the sub-plots in three replicates. Nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and its indices agronomic efficiency (AE), nitrogen internal utilization (IE), physiological efficiency (PE), nitrogen recovery efficiency, nitrogen harvest index (NHI) and partial factor productivity (PFP) were obtained from sorghum yield data and nitrogen uptake. The results showed that nitrogen application at 6.5 kgha-1 and 32.5 kgha-1 significantly increased grain yield, stover weight and total dry matter (TDM) by 43% and 116%, 39% and 85% and 42% and 57% respectively. Sorghum genotypes TTKKIAMA6, KTIRASTAMMA4, SNYAKTOSA5, and MKNKKIRWMA2 had significantly higher grain yield and low N uptake implying they are N-efficient. NUE of sorghum decreased with increasing N application. Nitrogen internal utilization efficiency (IE) was significantly higher at zero N application rate implying better N assimilation by sorghum genotypes at low N. AE, PE, RE and PFP were all significantly higher at 6.5 kg N ha-1. All tested genotypes had significantly high NUE (90 to 1148 kgkg-1, RE (27 to 94 kgkg-1), AE (41 to 139 kgkg-1), PE (27 to 84 kgkg-1) and IE (41 to 139 kgkg-1) than the check (Gadam). It was concluded that sorghum genotypes yield parameters were increased by nitrogen application, NUE was highest at low N levels and its indices were significantly higher at 6.5 kg Nha-1. Four genotypes were found to be highly N-efficient and are recommended for sorghum improvement.

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The Desert Margins Programme Approaches in Upscaling Best-Bet Technologies in Arid and Semi-arid Lands in Kenya

Cited by 4 publications

References 9 publications

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

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

Assessment of Napier grass accessions in lowland and highland tropical environments of East Africa: water stress indices, water use and water use efficiency

Effect of nitrogen fertilizer on nitrogen use efficiency and yield of selected sorghum genotypes in semi-arid regions of Kenya

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