Browsing by Author "Sokoine University of Agriculture"

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    Improvement of rangelands by oversowing with leguminous plant species in Shinyanga Region, Tanzania
    (Sokoine University of Agriculture, 2020) Sokoine University of Agriculture
    Four herbaceous legumes (C. pubescence, C. ternatea, M. atropurpureum and S. hamata) were oversown in 1992 in Shinyanga, Tanzania to assess their effect on forage production quality and soil fertility. Forage and soil samples were taken in the seventh year of the experiment during the dry and wet season. Oversowing improved soil characteristics of Cation Exchange Capacity, organic matter content and available P. C. ternatea, M. atropurpureum and S. hamata persisted in the sword while C. pubescence virtually disappeared. In the dry season the CP content of the treatments in g/kg DM was 44.4, 37.6, 36.5, 35.0 and 29.7 for C. ternatea, S. hamata, M. atropurpureum, and C. pubescence oversown and the control treatments respectively. The DMD of the oversown treatments in g/kg DM was 384.4, 366.8, and 321.0 for treatments oversown with C. ternatea, S. hamata and M. atropurpureum in that order. OMD of the treatments in g/kg DM ranged from 304.4 to 425.2 for the control and C. ternatea oversown treatments respectively. The potential degradability of the treatments in g/ kg DM was 600.6, 585.1, 577.7, 572.9 and 492.0 for C. ternatea, M. atropurpureum, S. hamata, and C. pubescence oversown and the control treatments respectively. Biomass production results in t/ha were 1.75, 1.69, 1.66 and 1.62 t/ha for treatments oversown with S. hamata, M atropurpureum, C. ternatea and C. pubescence oversown treatments respectively. The control plots were significantly lower (P<0.01) in CP, potential degradability, DMD, OMD and biomass production than the oversown treatments. In the wet season, natural pasture from the oversown treatments had significantly higher (P<0.05) CP content than the natural pasture of the control treatment. Naturaliii pasture associated with C. ternatea, S. hamata and M. atropurpureum had CP content pasture associated with C. ternatea, S. hamata and M. atropurpureum had CP content of 55.3, 55.4 and 49.1 g/kg DM respectively. The control plots had 43.0 g/ kg DM. It was also found that mixed samples had better nutritional quality over the control. C. ternatea, M atropurpureum and S. hamata mixed samples had CP content of 68.8, 65.6, and 59.7 g/kg DM respectively. The control plots had CP content of 43.0 g/kg DM. The treatments had DMD of 478.3, 478.2, 447.3, 426.8 and 419.9 g/kg DM for C. ternatea, M. atropurpureum, S. hamata and C. pubescence over sown treatments and the control plots respectively. The OMD of the oversown treatments was 506.6, 493.9, 485.9 and 456.0 for M. atropurpureum, C. ternatea, S. hamata and C. pubescence respectively. The biomass production of the oversown treatments was 1.79, 1.70 and 1.62 for S. hamata, M. atropurpureum and C. ternatea oversown treatments respectively. The control treatment was significantly lower (P<0.05) in CP OMD and biomass production than the oversown treatments. The CP content of the oversown legumes in g/kg DM was 151.9, 142.1 and 104.4 for C. ternatea, M. atropurpureum, and S. hamata respectively. The DMD of the oversown legumes was 534, 484 and 460 g/kg DM for S. hamata, M. atropurpureum and C. ternatea respectively. The OMD was 572.2, 547.8 and 512 g/kg DM for S. hamata M. atropurpureum and C. ternatea in that order. The potential degradability of the oversown legumes in g/kg DM was 570 for S. hamata, 718 for M atropurpureum and 707 for C. ternatea. C. ternatea, S. hamata and M. atropurpureum oversown treatments performed better than the other treatments in both the dry and wet seasons. S', hamata had excelled the other legumes in degradability and degradation characteristics. From the results obtained it was concluded that oversowing legumes had improved soil fertility, biomass yield, nutritional quality and species composition of the rangeland.