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Perennial Pennisetums
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... The common name "Napier grass" comprises approximately 140 species; over 300 accessions are available in various gene banks around the world (Negawo et al., 2017). It grows in a wide range of soil and climatic conditions ranging from low fertility acid soils to slightly alkaline soils (Hanna et al., 2004). However, it grows well on rich, deep, and well-drained loamy soils under a pH range of 4.5 to 8.2 (Duke, 1983;Cook et al., 2005). ...
... The common name "Napier grass" comprises approximately 140 species; over 300 accessions are available in various gene banks around the world (Negawo et al., 2017). It grows in a wide range of soil and climatic conditions ranging from low fertility acid soils to slightly alkaline soils (Hanna et al., 2004). However, it grows well on rich, deep, and well-drained loamy soils under a pH range of 4.5 to 8.2 (Duke, 1983;Cook et al., 2005). ...
... The common name "Napier grass" comprises approximately 140 species; over 300 accessions are available in various gene banks around the world (Negawo et al., 2017). It grows in a wide range of soil and climatic conditions ranging from low fertility acid soils to slightly alkaline soils (Hanna et al., 2004). However, it grows well on rich, deep, and well-drained loamy soils under a pH range of 4.5 to 8.2 (Duke, 1983;Cook et al., 2005). ...
... The common name "Napier grass" comprises approximately 140 species; over 300 accessions are available in various gene banks around the world (Negawo et al., 2017). It grows in a wide range of soil and climatic conditions ranging from low fertility acid soils to slightly alkaline soils (Hanna et al., 2004). However, it grows well on rich, deep, and well-drained loamy soils under a pH range of 4.5 to 8.2 (Duke, 1983;Cook et al., 2005). ...
Napier grass ( Pennisetum purpureum Schumach) comprises up to 80% of the cattle diet in many tropical and subtropical regions and is used primarily by smallholder farmers. Despite the grass’s high yield, resulting animal productivity from this grass is low. One of the key reasons for the low animal productivity of Napier grass is its low nutritive value under current management. Taken together, previous work has shown the current yield, crude protein (CP), and metabolisable energy (ME) of Napier grass to be 26 t dry matter (DM)/ha/year, 96 g/kg DM, and 8.7 MJ/kg DM, respectively, ranging from 2 to 86 t DM/ha/year, 9 to 257 g CP/kg DM, and 5.9 to 10.8 MJ ME/kg DM, respectively, suggesting an opportunity for significant improvement on both yield and nutritive value of this grass. The DM yield and nutritive value of this grass are inversely related, indicating a trade-off between yield and quality; however, this trade-off could be minimised by increasing sowing density and harvesting frequency. Available literature shows that this simple management strategy of increasing sowing density (50 cm × 40 cm) and harvesting frequency (11–12 harvests/year) provides 71 t DM/ha with 135 g/kg DM CP and 10.8 MJ ME/kg DM. This quality of Napier grass has the potential to increase both milk and meat production substantially in the tropics and subtropics, and the farmers will likely find this simple management acceptable due to the high yield obtained through this management. However, there is a paucity of work in this field. Therefore, management strategies to improve the nutritive value of Napier grass are required to increase milk and meat production in the tropics and subtropics and in doing so improve the food security of more than half of the global population living in these regions.
... This resulted in the introduction of the Napier hybrid (Pennisetum sp.) fodder cultivars to Sri Lanka a decade ago. They were previously widely grown across Africa and Southeast Asian countries including India [5] due to their adaptability to a wide range of soil conditions, along with their high photosynthetic and water use efficiency [6]. In addition, they exhibit Similar information has not been collected on the newly introduced CO-5 and Sampoorna cultivars and forms the basis of the current study. ...
Citation: Weerathunga, D.; Udagama, D.; Campbell, S.; Barber, D.; Weerasinghe, P. Performance of the Napier Hybrids Cultivars CO-5 (Pennisetum glaucum × P. Purpureum schumach) and Sampoorna (Pennisetum pedicillatum × P. americanum) Harvested at Five Intervals. Grasses 2023, 2, 156-167. Abstract: Low pasture biomass production and fodder scarcity are among the major challenges affecting productivity of dairy cattle farms in Sri Lanka. As a potential solution to this, two Napier hybrid cultivars, CO-5 and Sampoorna, were recently introduced, and a field experiment was conducted to evaluate their growth, dry matter production, and nutritional composition from May to September 2020 to identify the optimum stage of harvest during the Yala season of the year. Plant measurements and samples were collected at five harvest intervals (4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 weeks after planting, respectively), with the plant samples subjected to biomass and nutritional assessments. The number of tillers and leaf length significantly differed (p = 0.01) between the two cultivars at 4 weeks harvesting interval (HI), whilst the number of leaves differed at 12-week HI, respectively. Dry matter yield increased (p = 0.16) almost linearly, whilst crude protein declined exponentially with CO-5 greater than Sampoorna (p = 0.057; 9.3% vs. 8.7%), with increasing harvesting intervals, respectively. In vitro organic matter digestibility and in vitro metabolizable energy contents were similar across weeks 4, 6, and 8 but then decreased. This study demonstrates that higher dry matter yields (12.54 t/ha) can be obtained through harvesting both cultivars at 12 week HIs, but from a nutritional perspective, harvesting at 6 week HIs during Yala season of the year would be optimum for farmers.
... This resulted in the introduction of Napier hybrid (Pennisetum sp.) fodder cultivars to Sri Lanka a decade ago. They were previously widely grown across Africa and Southeast Asian countries including India [5] due to their adaptability to a wide range of soil conditions, and high photosynthetic and water use efficiency [6]. In addition, they exhibit profuse tillering, are easy to establish, have few pest diseases, and are considered superior in terms of dry matter production and nutritional quality (e.g., crude protein, energy) [7][8][9][10]. ...
Low pasture biomass production and fodder scarcity are among the major challenges affecting productivity of dairy cattle farms in Sri Lanka. As a potential solution to this, two Napier hybrid cultivars CO-5 and Sampoorna were recently introduced and a field experiment was conducted to evaluate their growth, dry matter production and nutritional composition during May to September 2020. Plant measurements and samples were collected at five harvest intervals (4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 weeks after planting), with the plant samples subjected to biomass and nutritional assessments. The number of tillers and leaf length differed (P=0.01) between the two cultivars at 4 weeks harvesting interval (HI) whilst number of leaves differed at 12 HI respectively. Dry matter yield increased (P=0.16) almost linearly whilst crude protein declined exponentially with CO-5 greater than Sampoorna (P=0.057; 9.3% vs 8.7%), with increasing harvesting intervals respectively. In-vitro Organic Matter Digestibility and In-vitro Metabolizable Energy contents were similar across weeks 4, 6 and 8 but then decreased. This study demonstrates that higher dry matter yields (12.54 t/ha) can be obtained by harvesting both cultivars at 12 HI, but from a nutritional perspective harvesting at 6 HI during Yala season of the year would be optimum for farmers.
... In a study under greenhouse management, germination rates of 57.5 to 100% for horizontally planted setts, and 85 to 97.5% for vertically inserted setts, respectively, were demonstrated (Knoll and Anderson, 2012). Particularly cane-section cuttings of Napier grass rooted reliably under fertile conditions, e. g. nitrogen supply and availability of water (Woodard and Prine, 1990;Hanna et al., 2004). As so, the reduced germination of propagules for Napier grass was found under deficit circumstances (Rusland et al., 1993). ...
Climate change is going to impact agriculture, so that biofuel production from crops like Napier grass will be produced under more restricted environment’s conditions in the upcoming years. This field experiment was conducted to determine the importance of the size of cane-section cuttings establishment and performance on the field under minimal farming management in the Nakhon Ratchasima Province/Thailand. The effects of initial cutting length, planting method (vertical or horizontal) or initiation density of setts (a short cane-section cutting that contains at least two nodes) were compared as to propagation success, plant survival, tiller formation and dry matter yield (DMY) under rainfed conditions in randomized block design. An early harvest, tested on horizontally buried setts, did not affect an increase of tiller formation, but the tiller increased with maturation instead. The planting method, horizontal or vertical, of setts did not affect the plant architecture like tiller formation for DMY production in the end. In the drier 2012/13 period, an increasing density of setts tended to produce more DMY, a trend, that was lost during the wetter 2013/14 period. Though longer canes produced absolutely more DMY than the compared smaller sections but a significantly better performance or DMY could not been found. From our results, we conclude that the rate of successfully propagated cuttings or plant architecture is not equivalent for DMY. Attributes like planting density or length of cane-section did not affect the later-produced biomass under restricted farming conditions.
... Hence, results in weight loss, impaired reproduction capacity and high mortality rate. Elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum) has been widely used as tropical forage, because of its high dry matter (Hanna et al., 2004). The grass has been reported to be low in nitrogen but when combined with legumes and concentrate diet, could be suitable forage for dairy cattle (Nyambati et al., 2003). ...
A 63-day study that involved 20 growing West African Dwarf sheep with average live bodyweight of 7.44 ± 0.18 kgW 0.75 was carried out to evaluate nutrients intake, nitrogen metabolism, weight gain and blood profile of sheep fed Pennisetum purpureum (PP) substituted with white morus alba leaves (ML). The sheep were allotted to 5 treatments of 4 sheep per replicate in a Completely Randomized Design experiment. Five diets fed to the sheep were formulated designated as T1 (100 % PP), T2 (75 % PP: 25 % ML), T3 (50 % PP: 50 % ML), T4 (25 % PP: 75 % ML) and T5 (100 % ML). DM ranged 89.03 - 90.16 % and highest (21.05 %CP) was obtained in T5. Nutrients intake, DWG and FGR were significantly (p<0.05) influenced. Highest DMI (250.38 gW 0.75 /day) and CPI (52.70 gW 0.75 /day) were observed in sheep fed T5. Highest N-balance (5.75 gW 0.75 ) was obtained in sheep fed T5. Consequently, the best DWG (16.10 gW 0.75 g/day) and least FCR (15.55). Haematological and serum biochemical indices were within normal range for WAD sheep. Thus, sole feeding of white mulberry leave could offer a reliable source of protein for sheep.
... Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) indicated that the seven groups detected are significantly different from each other, with up to 14 % variation among the groups. The high level of diversity and population stratification observed could be attributed to the outcrossing, self-incompatibility (Hanna et al., 2004) and polyploid nature of Napier grass. Furthermore, selection, breeding systems, and variation in geographical origin may also be contributing to the variation seen between the materials derived from the ILRI and EMBRAPA collections. ...
The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) maintains a collection of 18,662 forage germplasm accessions of grasses, herbaceous legumes and browse species at its genebank in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Most of the collection was acquired from different regions, in partnership with and the consent of national genebanks, while some were donations from other institutes, notably the Commonwealth and Scientific Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) in Australia. The focus of the forage germplasm activities in ILRI is on the conservation, characterization and use as animal feed of these resources in smallholder livestock systems. To this end, the determination of genetic diversity in the collection is essential, underpinning the development of trait-based subsets of accessions and for the identification of genotypes that can be used as parents to develop new germplasm containing specific traits of interest. Here we report on the use of genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS), a robust and affordable genotyping method which uses a combination of genome complexity reduction using restriction endonucleases and next generation sequencing to identify large numbers of high-quality genome-wide genetic markers. GBS is a particularly useful technique to use on species with limited genomic information and we have applied this technique to assess genetic diversity in a range of our forage germplasm collections, including: Napier grass (Cenchrus purpureus); Buffel grass (Cenchrus
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ciliaris); Rhodes grass (Chloris gayana); Lablab (Lablab purpureus); and Sesbania (Sesbania sesban). These data provide a significant resource for genetic and marker-trait association studies and genomic prediction, enhancing the prediction accuracy of superior genotypes and the efficiency of selection of new varieties, supporting improved animal production, using marker assisted breeding. Furthermore, the subsets are of a manageable size and can act as reference sets for distribution and evaluation in different agro-ecologies and production systems.
... However, its productivity and nutritive value as forage are limited under drought stress and cold conditions. To solve these problems, interspecific hybrids of the perennial Pennisetum purpureum Schumach (napier grass) x annual Pennisetum americanum (L.) Leeke (pearl millet) with higher forage yield and quality were developed [5,6]. These hybrids were widely distributed to farmers in subtropical and tropical countries, including Thailand [7]. ...
Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum Schumach) has been identified as a potential energy crop in Thailand. However, information regarding the biomass production characteristics of napier grass in response to K and N fertilization is required to guide management decisions for biofuel feedstock. Our objective was to determine the effects of K and N rates on biomass yield, developmental morphology, nutrient content and removal. This experiment was conducted during 2016 and 2017 at Kamphaeng Saen (KPS), Thailand. The experimental design was a split plot arranged in a randomized complete block (RCB) with four replications. Three K fertilization rates (0, 250, and 500 kg ha⁻¹) were used for the main plots and four N fertilization rates (0, 250, 500, and 1000 kg ha⁻¹) were arranged as subplots. With increasing N fertilization rate, most growth parameters increased, except leaf to stem ratio and dry matter concentration decreased. Total dry matter yield (TDMY) increased from 16.6 to 43.0 t ha⁻¹ and from 15.2 to 41.6 t ha⁻¹ in 2016 and 2017, respectively, as N rate increased from 0 to 1000 kg ha⁻¹. However, growth and TDMY were not affected by K fertilizer. Increased TDMY resulted from an increase in the proportion of elongating tillers leading to advancing mean stage by count (MSC) from 2.35 to 2.45. Therefore, although napier grass demonstrated large biomass production under multiple harvest regimes, its higher removal rates (285.0–1615. kg K ha⁻¹ and 86.7–422.2 kg N ha⁻¹) were varied with fertilization rates indicating a potential for higher fertilizer requirements and production costs over time.
The productivity of Guinea grass, Napier grass, and Pangola grass pastures under close to optimum conditions of heavy fertilization, irrigation, and intensive grazing management on almost level land on the semiarid south coast of Puerto Rico was determined in terms of carrying capacity and actual gains in weight over a period of 1 1/2 years. Guinea and Napier grass pastures produced about 1,300 pounds of gain-in- weight and 9,500 pounds of total digestible nutrients per acre yearly, with a carrying capacity of 2.2 standard beef cows, or about 3 steers per acre. Daily gains per young steer averaged about 1 1/4 pounds. The Pangola grass pastures averaged 1,063 pounds of gain-in-weight and 7,934 pounds of total digestible nutrients per acre yearly.
Seven Napier or elephant grass cultivars (Pennisetum purpureum Schum.) were evaluated at the University of Puerto Rico Corozal Agricultural Experiment Substation for 2 years to measure the effect of 30-, 45-, and 60-day harvest intervals on green forage (GF), dry forage (DF), and crude protein (CP) yields, leaf/stem ratio, and chemical composition. As the grasses advanced in maturity from 30 to 45 and from 45 to 60 days, GF, DF, and CP yields increased in all cultivars. Significant (P < .05) differences occurred among cultivars as to GF, DF, and CP yields during the 2-year period. The highest DF yields were obtained by cultivars 13079, 13078, 7353, and 7350. Significant (P < .05) differences also occurred among cultivars as to GF and DF yields during the short-day and dry-month periods of the year. leaf/stem ratio was higher during the short-day and dry-month periods, and lower during heavy rainfall periods. At the 45-day harvest interval, cultivar 13079 was highest in neutral-detergent fiber, acid-detergent fiber, and lignin contents, but lowest in CP and estimated digestibility contents.
The experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of cutting interval on quality and palatability of napiergrass (Pennisetum purpureum SHUMACH) Silage. The grasses were harvested on 6, 8, 10 and 12 weeks interval from February to November and were ensiled in laboratory silos. Fibrous compounds increased, while dry matter digestibility and crude nitrogen content decreased with increasing cutting interval. Total non-structural carbohydrate (TNC), which ranged between 5% and 8% on dry matter basis, increased a little as increasind cutting interval. The fermentative quality of each silage was relatively high, because lactic acid content of napiergrass silage at different cutting times was over 6% on dry matter basis and contents of the other organic acids were very little. The average value of pH of silage was lower than 4.2 in respective cutting intervals. But the fermentative quality of silage on the last Cuts of various intervals either during autumn or winter season, however, was slightly low. It is suggested that this tendency depended on TNC content of less than under 6.0%. the low palatability by cattle was clearly noticed in 12 weeks interval silage. This is considered to be caused by low dry matter digestibility. It is suggested that napiergrass may be cut and ensiled at between 8 to 10 weeks interval of growh.
Pennisetum sect. Pennisetum includes two reproductively isolated species. Pennisetum purpureum Schumach. is a tetraploid (2n = 28) perennial species which occurs throughout the wet tropics of the world. Pennisetum americanum (L.) Leeke is a diploid (2n = 14) annual species, native to the semi-arid tropics of Africa and India, and contains three morphologically diverse subspecies. Subspecies americanum includes the wide array of cultivated pearl millets. Subspecies monodii from the Sahel of West Africa is identified as the wild progenitor of pearl millet. Subspecies stenostachyum is morphologically intermediate between subsp. americanum and monodii and includes the mimetic weeds often associated with the cultivation of pearl millet.
Series Editor's Preface. List of Herbage Species. 1. Introduction. 2. History of Grassland Development (1900-1970). 3. The Grassland Environment. 4. Husbandry of Natural Grassland. 5. From Shifting Cultivation to Crop-Grass Rotations. 6. Species of Cultivated Grasses. 7. The Establishment and Husbandry of Sown Grasses. 8. Grass Seed Production in Kenya. 9. Grass Breeding at Kitale. 10. Legumes for Sown Pastures. 11. Elephant Grass: General Characteristics. 12. Elephant Grass Husbandry. 13. Elephant Grass Utilization. 14. Alternative Fodder Grasses. 15. Grass Sorghum. 16. Fodder Oats. 17. Lucerne. 18. Other (Non-Graminaceous) Fodder Crops. 19. Hay and Silage. Glossary. Bibliography. Index.