Evaluation of seeding rates and harvesting stages on forage biomass yield of triticale (X TRITICOSECALE WITTMACK) vs vetch (VICIA VILOSA R.) mixture DEMBIA DISTRICT, ETHIOPIA
Date: 23.4.2012
By
Malede Birhan Atanaw
From
Department of Animal Production and Extension, Faculty of Veterinary medicine, University of Gondar, P.O.Box, 196, Gondar, Ethiopia
Abstract
Information on the agronomic management such as the stage of harvesting and optimum level of seeding rate for maximum biomass yield pastures mixture and biological compatibility of forage is generally inadequate. Hence the experiment was carried out to assess forage yield and biological compatibility of triticale (X Triticosecale wittmack) and vetch (Vicia vilosa R.) mixture grown under different seeding rates and stages of harvesting at Dembia district, Ethiopia. The objectives of the research were to evaluate the optimum stages of harvesting and proportion of seeding rates for the maximum biomass production and biological compatibility of triticale/vetch in the mixture and pure stands. The methods of the experimental design was employed a split plot design with three stages of harvesting as a main plot and five seed proportion as a sub plot and replicated three times. Data was subjected to analysis of variance using SPSS version 14 statistical packages. The results of the experiments, showed that, dry matter accumulation of triticale at 20th day of plant growth showed significant difference (P<0.01) among the different seed proportion treatments (Table 1). The highest and the lowest dry matter accumulation of vetch were recorded at the seed proportion three and seed proportion five with the value of 48.55 and 38.65 g/10 plants. Higher forage dry matter yield of the mixture was 11.85t/ha was observed at harvesting stage three and seed proportion three. Relative yield total was also found to be more than one in all HS at SP3. In SP3 at HS2, the highest value was 1.72 indicating yield advantages of 72% for triticale/vetch mixture as compared to sole cropping of either of the two forage species. In conclusion, this result showed that HS2 and SP3 were the best combination for better biomass yield and good biological compatibility in the mixture. Keywords: Seed proportions (SP), harvesting stages (HS), biological compatibility (BC), dry matter yield (DMY).
Keywords: Seed proportions (SP), harvesting stages (HS), biological compatibility (BC), dry matter yield (DMY).
Corresponding author: maledeb@yahoo.com or maledeba@yahoo.com
Citation: Atanaw M.B. (2012): Evaluation of seeding rates and harvesting stages on forage biomass yield of triticale (X TRITICOSECALE WITTMACK) vs vetch (VICIA VILOSA R.) mixture DEMBIA DISTRICT, ETHIOPIA. www.Gate2Biotech.com. 1 (4) 1-10
