Abstract
Seed quality and effects of storage on viability of six range grass species grown at 80, 50 and 30% Field capacity soil water content and rain fed were evaluated. Freshly harvested seeds at week 2 from date of harvest (DOH) had the lowest percent germination. Enteropogon macrostachyus showed low GP ( 50%) after storage period of 2 weeks from DOH and GP>75% from the three soil water content after storage period of 36 weeks. The results also showed after storage periods of 12 weeks, all the grass species start to germination after day 3 of incubation, unlike in the freshly harvested -2 weeks storage period where germination starts after 7 days of incubation except for Sorghum sudanense. Germination index (GI) increased with storage periods for all the grass species with Sorghum sudanense having the highest GI of over 20 after 12 weeks of storage. Storage period of 12 weeks increases seed viability of the six grasses and Sorghum sudanense has higher seed viability even when freshly harvested compared to the other species.
Highlights
Livestock production plays a crucial role in Kenya drylands, with 70% of livestock and 30% of human population, and over 80% of wildlife being supported by these ecosystems [9]
Ecological restoration through reseeding has been used to assist degraded areas recover for increased productivity [36] which has been achieved through grass reseeding of degraded Kenyan rangelands with native species [18,22,23]
This procedure was done to all the grass species at the end of 2, 12, 24 and 36 weeks storage periods from the date of harvest (DOH)
Summary
Livestock production plays a crucial role in Kenya drylands, with 70% of livestock and 30% of human population, and over 80% of wildlife being supported by these ecosystems [9]. These areas have been under serious degradation, with increasing loss of native grass species that supported livestock population under pastoralism. Rangeland rehabilitation has been reported to be very effective in restoring these degraded areas [30], and this can be achieved through soil conservation by increasing vegetation cover to avoid runoff that depletes the fertile top soil [25]. The choice of perennial native grasses has always been promoted due to their ability to improve soil moisture retention and increased infiltration besides protecting the top soil from erosion [20,26,32]
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