Readily available grasses farmers can grow

Pasture production is simple and does not require too much skill to practice. It is important for owners of both large and small animals to key into it for sustainability of livestock production in Nigeria. The most important and readily available grasses to grow are: 1. Congo grass, Brachiaria riziziensis, which is a very important […]

Pasture production is simple and does not require too much skill to practice. It is important for owners of both large and small animals to key into it for sustainability of livestock production in Nigeria.

The most important and readily available grasses to grow are:

1. Congo grass, Brachiaria riziziensis, which is a very important forage specie with fast growth at the beginning of the wet season due to its strong seedling vigour, ease of establishment, with good yield and seed production. The recommended seed rate is 25kg to 30kg per hectare and it has the ability to suppress weeds.

2. Chloris gayana, otherwise known as Rhodes grass should be planted at 15kg to 20kg of seeds per hectare. It could be cultivated both as a palatable pasture for animals and a groundcover to reduce erosion.

3. ‘Gamba’ grass is suited to most soil types except for heavy clays. It should be planted at the rate of 60kg to 100kg of seeds per hectare.

4. Pennisetum pedicilatum, known as desho grass, and popularly called annual kyasuwa grass in Nigeria, has a high biomass producing capacity and grows upright with the potential of reaching 90cm to 120cm in height depending on soil fertility. It should be planted at the rate of 60kg to 80kg of seeds per hectare.

5. Brachiaria decumbens, Digitaria smutsii, Elephant grass and Napier grass are all propagated vegetatively at 500 sq. metre each per hectare of land.

For all the aforementioned grasses, drilling method of planting should be used for planting at a spacing of 0.5m to 1m apart. This is because of their ability to tiller i.e. ability to have several branches.

Similarly, leguminous plants that could be cultivated for feeding livestock include Lablab, which should be planted at seeds rate of 25kg per hectare, that is, 2-3 seeds per hole with spacing of 30cm x 60cm.

Centrosema, Alyscarpus and Stylo, uses 10-15kg per hectare and should be drilled at 0.5m apart.

Information given by Mr Yunusa M Ishiaku, a researcher on pasture production at the National Animal Production Research Institute (NAPRI) in Shika, Zaria.