Evaluation on dry forage yields and nutritional characteristics of introduced herbaceous legumes in Myanmar

The study was carried out to evaluate the forage yields, nutritive values and in vitro fermentation parameters of herbaceous legumes. Five varieties of introduced herbaceous legumes; Stylosanthes guianensis cv. Ubon stylo, Macrotyloma axillare cv. Archer, Centrosema brasilianum cv. Ooloo, Stylosanthes guianensis cv. Stylo 184 and Macroptilum bracteatum cv. Cadarga were evaluated at the research farm, University of Veterinary Science, Yezin, Myanmar. No fertilizer and no irrigation were applied for cultivation to test drought resistance. Dry forage yield, nutritive values and gas production at four harvesting times were measured with 4×5 factorial arrangement (5 legumes and 4 harvesting time) in randomized complete block design. There was no interaction between legumes and harvesting time on forage yield, nutritive values and fermentation parameters but they were affected by the main effects of legume types and harvesting time. Among the legume forages, the highest dry forage yields were found in Ooloo, Ubon stylo, and Stylo 184, and followed by the DM yield of Archer and Cadarga. The DM yield of the second harvest was significantly higher (p<0.05) than those of the first, third and fourth harvest which were not significantly different from each other. As a chemical composition, the DM content of Archer was lower (p<0.05) than those of other varieties. Among the legumes forages, the lower CP content was found in Cadarga. The higher NDF was observed in Ooloo. Ooloo, Ubon stylo and Cadarga showed higher ADF in comparison with the other two varieties. Among the harvesting time, the lowest DM content was found at the first harvest. The highest CP content was found at third harvest. The NDF content was not significantly different. The lowest ADF content was found in fourth harvest. According to the dry forage yield, Ubon stylo and Ooloo had the highest dry forage yield and in term of nutritive values, Stylo 184 and Archer had higher nutritive values. As the main effect of forages, Stylo 184 and Archer had higher gas production in comparison with the other varieties. As the main effect of harvesting time, the fourth harvest had the highest gas production in comparison with other harvesting time. It could be better for cultivation by application of fertilizer and irrigation to get more forage yield and quality.

Ruminal degradability of mixtures of Panicum maximum and four forage legume hays in N 'dama steer

This study was conducted to evaluate rumen degradability of Panicum maximum (Panicum) and Lablab purpureus (lablab). Stylosanthes guianensis (stylo). Centrosema pubescens (centro) and Aeschynomene histrix (histrix) harvested from the paddock consisting of grass and herbaceous legumes. Mixtures of P marimum (l. 8g) and each of these legumes (l.2g) were weighed together and incubated in a cannulated steer. Rumen degradability of the Panicum and legume mixtures were studied at 0, 6, 12. 24. 48 and 72 hours using the equation P=a+b (I-e-ct). Average dry matter (DM) and crude protein of the herbaceous legumes were 37.83% DM and 19.86% CP. respectively The soluble fraction. a ofthe DM degradation ranged from 23.34 to 31 rumen degradable fraction, b ranged from 39 46 to 44.43% DM. disappearance rate of substrates C was highest in lablab (12.4%h-1) and stylo (10.2%h-1) Protein degradation characteristics varied significantly (P< 0.05) among the treatments Hlgher b Potential degradability PD and Effective degradability ED. fractions were observed in the sole legumes and grass legumes combinations than the sole grass. This study revealed that hay consisting of grass and legume mixtures was better degraded in terms of DM.CP and fiber fractions in the rumen compared to sole grass hay and this could translate to enhance performance of livestock when fed these mixtures.

Comparative studies on the yield of some herbaceous legumes and effects of storage on the quality of their pellets

Dry matter yield of herbaceous legumes and effects of storage length of their pellets on the chemical composition were investigated. A two phased field and laboratory experiment were conducted. In the first experiment, the yield of the forage legumes using a 5 x 2 factorial experiment consisting of five herbaceous legumes (Lablab purpureus, Mucuna pruriens, Centrosema molle, Centrosema pascorum and Calopogonium mucunoides) and two harvesting ages (6 and 12 weeks after sowing) laid out in a split-plot design was determined. The second experiment was the selection of herbaceous legumes with higher yields from Experiment 1 using a 3 x 4 factorial experiment consisting of the three herbaceous legumes (L. purpureus, C. mucunoides and M. pruriens) used to make pellets and four storage lengths (0 i.e. fresh, 30, 60 and 90 days). Treatments in both experiments were replicated three times. Results showed that legumes harvested 12 weeks after sowing (WAS) had significantly (P < 0.05) higher dry matter yield (2.73 t ha-1) than legumes at 6 WAS, while Lablab purpureus1 produced the highest (P < 0.05) dry matter yield (2.94 t ha ) of the legumes evaluated.. The physical characteristics of the herbaceous legumes pellets such as colour, odour and moldiness at different storage length showed that they were between fair and good pellets. The L. purpureus and M. pruriens had higher (P < 0.05) CP content than C. mucunoides. Differences in the CP content of pellets with the storage lengths employed was not significant (P > 0.05). Higher oxalate, phytate and saponin contents were found in mucunoides pellets than in other legumes pellets while the tannin content was in the order of M. pruriens (43.63 mg kg-1) > L. purpureus (26.00 mg kg-1) > C. mucunoides (20.31 mg kg-1). In conclusion, increasing age at harvest increased the yield of the legumes, while increasing storage duration decreased the CP content but increased the NDF, ADF and saponin content of the pellets.

Grazing pressure versus environmental covariates: Effects on woody and herbaceous plant biodiversity on a limestone mountain in northern Tunisia

Mediterranean vegetation is characterized by high biodiversity and conservation value and grazing is controversial. We sampled woody and herbaceous plants on a limestone mountain with strong mesic-xeric gradients, ranked grazing pressure (on a scale of 1-4) and asked whether grazing had a significant effect on plant compositional abundance before and after controlling for environmental covariates. For woody species the shift in means among grazing classes was greater than for herbaceous species according to distance-based redundancy analysis (dbRDA). For herbaceous species differences in multivariate dispersion were greater among grazing classes. Both groups showed significant differences among grazing classes in multivariate location (permutational multivariate ANOVA), even after controlling for aspect. After taking into account biophysical covariates, grazing was not significant and the variation unique to grazing was small. According to best models in dbRDA, grazing was significant in two models for woody species, and all models for herbaceous species. For woody species, spatial variables were most important and confounded with grazing while for herbs, altitude, distance to road, slope, rock outcropping were important. Significant effects of grazing were found for forbs, Poaceae, and Geophytes but not woody and herbaceous legumes. We found a negative relationship between grazing intensity and beta diversity for herbs overall and especially Poaceae, but moderate grazing resulted in higher beta diversity for Geophytes and herbaceous legumes. Jebel Ichkeul provides a microcosm of similar conservation and management issues elsewhere in the Mediterranean. Carefully controlled grazing may enhance plant diversity and maintain the characteristics of maquis vegetation.