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Evaluation of Improved Napier Cultivars as Livestock Feed Under Farmers Conditions in West Hararghe Zone, Oromia Region, Ethiopia

Received: 6 November 2020     Accepted: 16 December 2020     Published: 30 January 2021
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Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the forage production and farmers preference as livestock feed under farmer’s conditions in West Hararghe Zone of Oromia region, Ethiopia. Four improved Napier grass cultivars (ILRI cultivar number: 16801, 16800, 16798, and 16840) and local check were planted in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with six replications during the main cropping season of 2018/19. The dry matter (DM) yield, fresh biomass yield, plant height, leaf length and leaf-stem ratio and other agronomic data were measured at harvest. Farmers preference of the Napier grass cultivars as livestock feed was collected through visual and hand evaluation of the multiple ranking criteria of the cultivars based on phonological nature. The results shows that, ILRI cultivar no. 16800 was higher (P<0.01) in the leaf to stem ratio than other Napier grass cultivars tested under farmers conditions. Similarly, ILRI cultivar 16800 was higher in DM yield and fresh biomass yield (P<0.05; 16.6 t/ha and 99.40 t/ha) respectively than ILRI cultivar 16798 (11.65 t/ha and 64.53 t/ha) respectively, but similar with other cultivars. According to the farmer's and developmental agent (DA) preferences, ILRI cultivar No. 16800 scored highest (4.56) followed by ILRI cultivar No. 16840 (4.00) and ILRI cultivar No. 16801 (3.89). The lowest score was given to ILRI cultivar No. 16798 (3.11) followed by local check (3.67). The results indicated that all Napier grass cultivars was ranked beyond good performance score (>3), as an indicator for livestock feed. From this study, it is concluded that Napier grass cultivars No. 16800, 16840 and 16801 were found promising in terms of agronomic traits, DM yield and fresh biomass yield than others during main rainy season (July to September) that needs further evaluation during dry season to demonstrated and popularized as an alternative feed resources under smallholder conditions in the study areas and other places of east and West Hararghe zones of Oromia region with similar climatic and edaphic conditions.

Published in Animal and Veterinary Sciences (Volume 9, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.avs.20210901.12
Page(s) 5-15
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Dry Matter Yield, Fresh Biomass Yield, Local, Preference

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    Tamrat Dinkale, Tessema Zewdu, Meseret Girma. (2021). Evaluation of Improved Napier Cultivars as Livestock Feed Under Farmers Conditions in West Hararghe Zone, Oromia Region, Ethiopia. Animal and Veterinary Sciences, 9(1), 5-15. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.avs.20210901.12

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    ACS Style

    Tamrat Dinkale; Tessema Zewdu; Meseret Girma. Evaluation of Improved Napier Cultivars as Livestock Feed Under Farmers Conditions in West Hararghe Zone, Oromia Region, Ethiopia. Anim. Vet. Sci. 2021, 9(1), 5-15. doi: 10.11648/j.avs.20210901.12

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    AMA Style

    Tamrat Dinkale, Tessema Zewdu, Meseret Girma. Evaluation of Improved Napier Cultivars as Livestock Feed Under Farmers Conditions in West Hararghe Zone, Oromia Region, Ethiopia. Anim Vet Sci. 2021;9(1):5-15. doi: 10.11648/j.avs.20210901.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.avs.20210901.12,
      author = {Tamrat Dinkale and Tessema Zewdu and Meseret Girma},
      title = {Evaluation of Improved Napier Cultivars as Livestock Feed Under Farmers Conditions in West Hararghe Zone, Oromia Region, Ethiopia},
      journal = {Animal and Veterinary Sciences},
      volume = {9},
      number = {1},
      pages = {5-15},
      doi = {10.11648/j.avs.20210901.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.avs.20210901.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.avs.20210901.12},
      abstract = {This study was conducted to evaluate the forage production and farmers preference as livestock feed under farmer’s conditions in West Hararghe Zone of Oromia region, Ethiopia. Four improved Napier grass cultivars (ILRI cultivar number: 16801, 16800, 16798, and 16840) and local check were planted in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with six replications during the main cropping season of 2018/19. The dry matter (DM) yield, fresh biomass yield, plant height, leaf length and leaf-stem ratio and other agronomic data were measured at harvest. Farmers preference of the Napier grass cultivars as livestock feed was collected through visual and hand evaluation of the multiple ranking criteria of the cultivars based on phonological nature. The results shows that, ILRI cultivar no. 16800 was higher (P3), as an indicator for livestock feed. From this study, it is concluded that Napier grass cultivars No. 16800, 16840 and 16801 were found promising in terms of agronomic traits, DM yield and fresh biomass yield than others during main rainy season (July to September) that needs further evaluation during dry season to demonstrated and popularized as an alternative feed resources under smallholder conditions in the study areas and other places of east and West Hararghe zones of Oromia region with similar climatic and edaphic conditions.},
     year = {2021}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Evaluation of Improved Napier Cultivars as Livestock Feed Under Farmers Conditions in West Hararghe Zone, Oromia Region, Ethiopia
    AU  - Tamrat Dinkale
    AU  - Tessema Zewdu
    AU  - Meseret Girma
    Y1  - 2021/01/30
    PY  - 2021
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.avs.20210901.12
    DO  - 10.11648/j.avs.20210901.12
    T2  - Animal and Veterinary Sciences
    JF  - Animal and Veterinary Sciences
    JO  - Animal and Veterinary Sciences
    SP  - 5
    EP  - 15
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2328-5850
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.avs.20210901.12
    AB  - This study was conducted to evaluate the forage production and farmers preference as livestock feed under farmer’s conditions in West Hararghe Zone of Oromia region, Ethiopia. Four improved Napier grass cultivars (ILRI cultivar number: 16801, 16800, 16798, and 16840) and local check were planted in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with six replications during the main cropping season of 2018/19. The dry matter (DM) yield, fresh biomass yield, plant height, leaf length and leaf-stem ratio and other agronomic data were measured at harvest. Farmers preference of the Napier grass cultivars as livestock feed was collected through visual and hand evaluation of the multiple ranking criteria of the cultivars based on phonological nature. The results shows that, ILRI cultivar no. 16800 was higher (P3), as an indicator for livestock feed. From this study, it is concluded that Napier grass cultivars No. 16800, 16840 and 16801 were found promising in terms of agronomic traits, DM yield and fresh biomass yield than others during main rainy season (July to September) that needs further evaluation during dry season to demonstrated and popularized as an alternative feed resources under smallholder conditions in the study areas and other places of east and West Hararghe zones of Oromia region with similar climatic and edaphic conditions.
    VL  - 9
    IS  - 1
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Oromia Agricultural Research Institute, Mechara Agricultural Research Center, Mechara, Ethiopia

  • Department of Animal Sciences and Range, Haramaya University, Dire Dewa, Ethiopia

  • Department of Animal Sciences and Range, Haramaya University, Dire Dewa, Ethiopia

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