Evaluation of Some Rhodes Grass (Chloris gayana) Genotypes for Their Salt Tolerance, Biomass Yield and Nutrient Composition

Ashenafi Worku Daba,Asad Sarwar Qureshi,Bethel Nekir Nisaren

doi:10.3390/app9010143

Abstract

The livestock productivity in Ethiopia is seriously constrained by the shortage of fodder due to increasing soil salinization. Therefore, restoration of salt-affected lands into productive soils through salt-tolerant forages and improved irrigation and crop management practices is crucial for enhancing the productivity of the livestock sector in Ethiopia. In this three-year study, pot trials were conducted to evaluate the impact of five different soil salinity levels (i.e., 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 dS m−1) on plant growth, biomass production, and nutrient quality attributes of three Rhodes grass (Chloris gayana) genotypes (ILRI-6633, ILRI-7384, CV-massaba). Increasing soil salinity negatively affected germination percentage (GP) and mean germination time (MGT) of all genotypes. For all salinity levels, the highest GP was observed for ILRI-6633 and the lowest for CV-massaba. Plant height and chlorophyll content for ILRI-6633 was higher than the other two genotypes. The crude protein (CP) content was higher in low dry matter-producing genotype (ILRI-7384). The performance of ILRI-6633 at all salinity levels was superior to the other two genotypes. CV-massaba genotype performed better under low to medium soil salinity conditions. Therefore, ILRI-6633 and CV-massaba genotypes have excellent potential to increase forage production in salt-affected areas of Ethiopia.

Highlights

Saline soils are becoming a growing threat to sustainable crop production in the irrigated lands of the semi-arid areas of the world [1,2]
In Ethiopia, approximately 11 million ha (Mha) of land (i.e., 9% of the country’s total landmass and 13% of the irrigated area) is exposed to salinity, of which 8 Mha have combined salinity and sodicity problems whereas the remaining 3 Mha are only sodic in nature [7,8]
This study reveals that at the seedling stage, there was a significant reduction in plant height, number of tillers per plant, and plant fresh and dry matter weight of three Chloris gayana genotypes with the increasing salinity levels

Summary

Introduction

Saline soils are becoming a growing threat to sustainable crop production in the irrigated lands of the semi-arid areas of the world [1,2]. Over 1000 million ha (Mha) are inflicted with the different levels of salinity problems [3], and an additional 0.25–0.5 Mha of agricultural land is lost annually [4]. Salinity problems are wide-spread in the Asian and African regions. In Ethiopia, approximately 11 Mha of land (i.e., 9% of the country’s total landmass and 13% of the irrigated area) is exposed to salinity, of which 8 Mha have combined salinity and sodicity problems whereas the remaining 3 Mha are only sodic in nature [7,8]. In Ethiopia, saline soils are more dominant in the Awash Valley and semi-arid lowlands where

Methods

Results

Conclusion