Abstract
A study was conducted to determine the effect of cutting frequencies for 2 temperate (Trifolium pratense and Trifolium repens) and 2 tropical (Stylosanthes guianensis and Centrosema molle) forage legumes on dry matter yield and nutritive value for beef cattle production in a cool tropical environment of Jos, Nigeria. It was a factorial experiments with four forage legumes and three defoliation frequencies (4 x 3) making twelve treatments combinations arranged in a randomized complete block design and replicated four times. The study was conducted in 2016 and 2017. The result showed that total dry matter yield (DMY) was higher (p<0.05) in T. pratense in 2017 (3.06 t/ha), while C. molle produced least DMY (1.01 t/ha). The temperate species performed better after each cut in DMY. Crude protein content was higher (p<0.05) in T. repens (26. 12 %) at the third cut. The tropical species were higher (p<0.05) in fibre contents. Dry matter intake (3.88 %), digestible dry matter (71.24 %) , total digestible nutrients (70.2 %) and relative feed value (214.53) were all higher (p<0.05) in T. repens at third cut. The temperate forage legumes generally showed more resilience to cuttings compared to the tropical species. Therefore the crops can be grown in the cool tropical environment of Jos, Nigeria as supplementary forage feeds.
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