Evaluation of morphological characteristics, yield and nutritive value of Brachiaria grass ecotypes in northwestern Ethiopia

Abstract

Abstract Background A study was conducted to evaluate the effect of altitude and harvesting dates on productivity and nutritive value of three Brachiaria brizantha grass ecotypes (Eth. 13726, Eth. 13809 and Eth. 1377) in northwestern Ethiopia. A factorial arrangement of treatments was employed with a combination of three altitudes and three harvesting dates. The data collected consisted of plant height (PH), number of tillers, number and length of leaves and fresh yield. The yield and chemical analysis of forage samples were analyzed for dry matter yield, ash, crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF) and acid detergent lignin. All data were subjected to analysis of variance procedures, with significance tested at P 0.05) in DM yield with increasing harvesting dates for all ecotypes. CP content declined with increased harvesting date in all ecotypes [Eth. 13726 (16.33, 10.63 and 6.72), Eth. 13809 (13.87, 10.60 and 9.57) and Eth. 1377 (14.80, 10.15 and 7.86)] for 60, 90 and 120 harvesting dates, respectively. All ecotypes had the highest CP content at day 60 harvesting stage. Conclusions Although all ecotypes had potential as an alternative ruminant feed in all altitude areas in Ethiopia, highest CP and lowest NDF and ADF concentrations were recorded by Eth13809 ecotype. Its capability to grow at low rainfall maintaining high yields is an additional advantage over the other two. Thus, among the tested ecotype grasses Eth13809 showed outstanding potential as a forage plant especially in low altitude area of northwestern Ethiopia.

Keywords

• Dry matter yield
• Grass ecotypes
• Plant height
• Tiller number