Abstract
A study was conducted to evaluate the effects of plant spacing and N fertilizer application on dry matter yield and chemical composition of Urochloa hybrid cv. Mulato II grass for the first 150 days after planting. A factorial experiment with 3 urea fertilizer levels (0, 50 and 100 kg/ha) and 4 spacings between plants and rows (20 × 20, 30 × 40, 40 × 60 and 50 × 80 cm) with 3 replications was used. Data collected were dry matter yield (DMY), leaf:stem ratio and chemical analyses, i.e. crude protein (CP), ash, neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF) and acid detergent lignin (ADL) concentrations. Results indicated that DMY, leaf:stem ratio, CP%, NDF% and ADF% were significantly (P<0.05) affected by interactions between plant spacing and fertilizer level. However, ash and ADL were significantly (P<0.05) affected only by main effects. The highest DMYs (9.18 t/ha and 8.93 t/ha) were recorded for narrowest plant spacing (20 × 20 cm) with higher urea fertilizer level (100 kg/ha) and narrowest plant spacing (20 × 20 cm) with medium urea fertilizer level (50 kg/ha), respectively. CP% ranged from 14.6 to 20% and leaf:stem ratio from 1.12 to 1.82:1. Similar studies need to be conducted over longer periods to determine to what extent these findings relate to performance over the life of a permanent pasture.
Highlights
Livestock are an important component of most farming systems in Ethiopia, providing milk, meat, draught power, transport, manure, hides and skins and serve as a source of cash income (Funk et al 2012)
The higher dry matter yield (DMY) at narrower spacing with application of N fertilizer were to be expected as plant population was greater, plants were taller and soil fertility was improved with application of urea fertilizer
A combination of increased tiller numbers and number of leaves per plant could have contributed to increased photosynthetic activity and higher dry matter production (Damry et al 2009). Those authors reported that increasing level of urea fertilizer application increased Mulato tiller numbers and DM production plus crude protein (CP) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) concentrations
Summary
Livestock are an important component of most farming systems in Ethiopia, providing milk, meat, draught power, transport, manure, hides and skins and serve as a source of cash income (Funk et al 2012). The subsector contributes about 16.5% of the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 35.6% of the Agricultural GDP. It contributes 15% of export earnings and 30% of agricultural employment. Despite the importance of livestock in the country, productivity is low (Gebremariam et al 2010). One of the major constraints leading to such low productivity is shortage of feed in terms of both quantity and quality, especially during the dry season (Hassen et al 2010), combined with high feed prices (Gebremariam et al 2010)
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