Productivity of four sesbania species on two soil types in Ethiopia

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In Ethiopia, lack of quality forage in adequate quantities is a major constraint to livestock productivity. Fast growing N2 fixing Sesbania have shown great promise both as high quality fodder and green manure. The objective of this study was to evaluate and select among the species S. macrantha, S. rostrata, S quadrata and S. sesban for fodder yield, quality and green manure potential. The field experiment was conducted on a light soil (loam, Alfisol) and a heavy soil (cracking type clay, Vertisol) at Debre Zeit (9° N and 39° E, 45 kms SE of Addis Ababa). There were two cutting treatments: cutting once at ground level or cutting twice at 50 cm (first, 65 days after sowing; second, 40 days later). A two-factor factorial in randomized block design was used. S. macrantha performed better on the light soil producing the highest dry matter (DM) yields of leaf (2.8 t/ha), stem (6.3 t/ha) and total nitrogen (151 kg/ha) in 105 days than the rest of the species. Most species performed poorly on the heavy soil. S. quadrata, however, showed better adaptability to the heavy soil (5.5 t/ha DM) than any of the other species. The lowest DM yield was recorded for S. rostrat which could be due to poor nodulation. Cutting twice over the 105 days growth period caused a drastic reduction in DM yield, but resulted in higher leaf-to-stem ratio and total N yield. The nutritional composition of all the species was within an acceptable range for livestock requirements. N content (4%) and IVDMD (over 70%) were high. S. macrantha had superior overall performance and seems promising both as high quality fodder and green manure crop. Under rain-fed conditions, cutting once was better than cutting twice particularly for S. macrantha.