- Title
- The evaluation of growth characteristics, biomass yield, and chemical composition of two cultivars of Panicum maximum (Mombaca and Gatton) and Brachiaria brizantha (Marandu) at different harvesting stages
- Creator
- Sokupa, Mihle Inga https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3918-1393
- Subject
- Pastures
- Date Issued
- 2020-11
- Date
- 2020-11
- Type
- Master's theses
- Type
- text
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10353/21433
- Identifier
- vital:48621
- Description
- The objective of this study was to carry out a comparative assessment of growth characteristics, biomass yield and chemical composition of Panicum maximum and Brachiaria brizantha cultivars at different harvesting stages. The field experiment was conducted at the University of Fort Hare research farm in Alice, South Africa. The main factors were three cultivars: Mombaca, Gatton (Panicum maximum) and Marandu (Brachiaria brizantha) and three harvesting stages (6, 10 and 14 weeks after planting). This study was a 3 × 3 factorial set up in a randomized complete block design with three replicates. Characteristics which included plant height, number of leaves and number of tillers were measured in five plants per plot at 2-week intervals from 4 to 14 weeks after planting (WAP). The fresh yield was weighed then oven dried at 65oC for 72 hours then dry matter yield was calculated after drying. The chemical composition (Ash, Fat, ADF, ADL, NDF, CP, Ca, Mg, Na, P, K, Cu, Fe, Zn and Mn) was determined on forage harvested at 6, 10 and 14WAP. Data was analysed using the Statistical Analysis Software in a 3x3 factorial to compute the ANOVA and all means of all treatments were calculated and the difference was tested for significance using the Least Significant Difference (LSD) test at P=0.05. The results showed variations (P<0.05) in plant height, but the number of leaves did not differ (P > 0.05) between the cultivars. The number of tillers were significantly different (P<0.05), the highest number of tillers was observed in Mombaca. Fresh yield showed significant differences at 10 and 14WAP, with Marandu producing the highest Fresh yield. The moisture content was different (P<0.05) across all the three harvests. Varying (P< 0.05) results were also observed in the dry matter yield of the cultivars with Mombaca producing the highest dry matter yield. There were no significant differences (P>0.05) in the ash content of the cultivars. The fat content also showed no significant differences. Variations (P<0.05) occured in the ADF of the cultivars, Marandu had the lowest ADF. The cultivar × WAP interactive effect was significant for ADL content. NDF significantly varied across the cultivars at 6WAP. There were no similarities (P<0.05) in the crude protein during the three harvesting intervals, Mombaca produced the highest CP and the lowest was obtained from Gatton. There was a significant interaction (P<0.05) between the cultivars and harvesting intervals for Calcium (Ca), Magnesium (Mg), Sodium (Na), Potassium (K), K/Ca+Mg, Copper (Cu), Iron (Fe), Zinc (Zn) and Manganese (Mn) contents of the cultivars. However, Phosphorus (P) showed no significant interaction (P>0.05) between the cultivars and harvesting intervals. The results obtained in this study showed that as the grasses grow, the biomass yield produced increases according to the genetic makeup and the factors affecting growth and biomass yield. However, the chemical composition decreased between cultivars. Mombaca showed superior traits in terms of growth biomass yield and chemical composition. Mombaca, which is a Panicum maximum cultivar can be used as a choice in forage production and chemical composition as it can supply both quality and quantity. It can be concluded that there are significant differences in growth characteristics, biomass yield and chemical composition of Panicum maximum and Brachiaria brizantha cultivars at different harvesting stages. It can also be recommended that the best harvesting stage is at 10 WAP, this is because both biomass yield and chemical composition are both satisfactory.
- Description
- Thesis (MSc) -- Faculty of Science and Agriculture, 2020
- Format
- computer
- Format
- online resource
- Format
- application/pdf
- Format
- 1 online resource (108 leaves)
- Format
- Publisher
- University of Fort Hare
- Publisher
- Faculty of Science and Agriculture
- Language
- English
- Rights
- University of Fort Hare
- Rights
- All Rights Reserved
- Rights
- Open Access
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UFH Department of Livestock & Pasture Science
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | SOKUPA MI Marked Dissertation.pdf | 889 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |