Characteristics of forage grasses for IFG

TABLE 1. Growth habit, leaf pattern and adaptability.

Grass	GROWTH HABIT	LEAVES	TOLERANCE TO	Adaptability
			D	WL	LFS	Soil	Rainfall (annual)
Napier grass Pennisetum purpureum	Robust cane-like species reaching a height of 2-5. m with short, stout under ground stems	Broad and tapering with a strong midrib	G	F	P	Wide range but deep loams are ideal.	1015 mm and over
Guinea grass Panicum máximum	A course, leafy and deep-rooted perennial with a typical stool- forming habit	Long and bread and well-distributed along the stems	VG	F	P	Wide range but suited to well- drained soils of medium to high fertility	1015 mm and over
Para grass Brachiaria mutica	Creeping and trailing with stout and stolons above the ground runners	Broad, erect and hairy	F	VG	P	Fiat lands and areas with poor drainage	1015 mm and over
Kennedy ruzi Brachiaria ruziziensis	Creeping and trailing reaching a height of 90 cm or 3 ft	10.2 to 25.3 or 4-10 in long, soft, sharply pointed and covered with fine hairs	F	F	P	Wide range but grows best on well-drained soil of high fertility	1525 mm and over
Signal grass Brachiaria decumbens	Creeping and trailing which is very similar to Para grass	Short and dark green leaf blades	F	F	G	Quick drying, shallow, hillside soils	1525 mm
African Star grass Cynodon plectos- tachyus	Spreading with stout rapidly growing solomons	Smooth, narrow and 3.8 cm long	G	F	F	Wide range from coarse to fine soils	500 mm and over
Centro	Trailing twinning and	Shiny bright green	F	G	F	Wide range	1525 mm
Centrosema	climbing	wKh sparse hairs,				including those	and over
pubesceos		ovate-elliptical				with low pH and
		leaflets				poor drainage
Ipil-ipil	Tree	Smooth, bipinnate	VG	P	G	Well-drained	760 mm
Leucaena leucoce-phala		leaf stalk, 15-25 cm long				soils, slightly acidic to slightly	and over
Stylo Stylosanthes guyanensis cv. Cook	Vigorous, bushy perennial 0.5-1.5 m high which muy become troiling under grazing pressure	Trifoliate leaves, with elliptical leaflets and iong hairs on the mid-vein of the lower surface	G	F	VG	Many soil types including those w/low pH; grows well on sandy soils as well	1525 mm
Siratro Macroptilium atropurpureum	A perennial with deeply penetrating roots and trailing stems which may root anywhere along its length	Pinnately trifolate dark green and hairy on the upper surface; lateral leaflets indented	VG	F	G	Wide range but does not per- form well on poorly drained soils	760-1780 mm
Calliandra Calliandra calothyrsus	Tree	Smooth, bipinnate leaf stalk 10-15 cm	VG	P	G	Well-drained soil	750 mm and over
Flemingia Flemingia macrophylla	Shrub	Simple, private to oblong with pointer tip and round base	G	F	G	Wide range of soil but well- drained soils	800 mm and over
Madre de Cacao Gliricida sepium.	Tree	Smooth, odd, bipinnate leaves, green and shining on upper surface 15-25 cm Long	G	F	G	Weli-drained soil	750 mm and over
Acid ipil-ipil Leucaena diversifolia	Tree	Small bipinnate small leaflet	G	F	G	Well-drained soil	750 mm and above
Rensoni Desmodium rensonii	Shrub	Pinnately trifoliate hairy beneath terminal one oblong	F	F	G	Well-drained soil	1000 mm and over

Table 2. Propagation method, seeding rate, herbage yield, seed yield, cp and row distance

HERBAGE SEED

GRASS	PROPAGATION	SEEDING RATE	DM YIELD	YIELD	CP	Row distance	REMARKS
		(kg/ha)	(t/ha)	(kg/ha)	(%)
Napier grass	Vegetative	35,000-	15-40		1.13-2.16	1 m	Cut 15-20
Pennisetum purpureum		40,000 seed species					cm from the ground
Guinea grass	Vegetative	35,000-	5-20	150-200	1.15-1.66	1 m	Cut 20-25
Panicum maximum	and seed	40,000 rootstock pc. or 3-8 kg seeds					cm from the ground
Para grass Brachiaria ruziziensis	Vegetative and seed	5 t of cuttings materials or 3-6 kg seeds	2.5-8	100-150		0.50 m	Spread slowly; should be allowed to develop before cutting
Signa grass Brachiaria decumbens	Vegetative and seed	5 t of cutting materials or 3-4 kg seeds	5-12	150-200	1.95	0.50 m	Cut; they recover very slowly
African star grass Cynodon plectostachysus	Vegetative	5 t of cutting materials	5-9	1.61-6.05	1 m		Cut close to the ground or old stem will get rough.
Centro Centnosema pubesceos	Seed	1-8	3-10	500-700	3.8-5.01	1 m	Climb other grasses well, thus when cut as combined with grass
Ipi-ipil Leucaena leucocephala	Seed/cutting	4-30	7-24	150-500	12.56-	1 m	Need to cut
					17.52		1 m from the ground; psyllid and water logged
Stylo Stylosanthes guyenensis cv. Cook	Seed	2.5-5	6-12	300	5.12	0.5 cm	Cut 10 cm from the ground and allow to grow
Siratro	Seed	2-5	3-10	700-1000	3.09	0.5	Could be
Macroptilium atropurpureum							mixed with grasses
Calliandra Calliandra calothyrsus	Seeds	4-10	3.7	-	22-24	1-2 m	Cut 50-65 cm from the ground
Flemingia Flemingia macrophylia	Seed	2-6	2.65	-	22	1-2 m	Cut 0.5-1.0 m from the ground
Madre do cacao Gliricida sepium	Seed and vegetative	4-6	2.6	5.7	19.13	1-2 m	Cut 1 m from the ground; fast regrowth
Acid ¡pil-ipil Leucaena diversifolia	Seeds	44	6-9	600	21	1-2 m	Cut 1 m from the ground; fast regrowth
Rensoni Desmodium rensonii	Seeds and cuttings	2-3	2.5 -4	400	22-23	0.5-1.0 m	Cut 0.5 m from the ground; fast regrowth

Sources: PCARRD Technical Bulletin No. 12. MBRLC Data.