Herbage Yield and Quality of Selected Accessions of Centrosema Species Grown under Subhumid Climatic Conditions of Western Oromia, Ethiopia

摘要

The study was conducted at Bako Agricultural Research Center during main rainy seasons of 2012and 2013 to identify superior accessions of Centrosema species based on their herbage DM (DMY) and crudeprotein (CPY) yields and forage quality attributes. Five elite accessions (C. pubescens ILRI 233, C. pubescensILRI 243, C. pubescens ILRI 12297, C. plumieri ILRI 191 and C. virginianum ILRI 14541) were evaluated in arandomized complete block design with two replications. The DMY and CPY values were significantly affectedby year (P<0.001) and accession (P = 0.05 for DMY; P<0.05 for CPY). Significantly higher DMY values wererecorded for C. pubescens ILRI 243 (7.35 t ha 1), C. plumieri ILRI 191 (7.35 t ha 1) and C. virginianum ILRI14541 (7.10 t ha 1). The crude protein (CP) content ranged from 18.86% (C. pubescens ILRI 243) to 22.37%(C. virginianum ILRI 14541), with overall mean of 21.02%. The overall mean neutral detergent fiber (NDF), aciddetergent fiber (ADF) and acid detergent lignin (ADL) values were 49.98%, 35.71% and 9.42%, respectively.The in vitro organic matter digestibility (IVOMD) ranged from 38.62% (C. pubescens ILRI 233) to 50.69%(C. plumieri ILRI 191). The relative feed value (RFV) varied from 106 (C. pubescens ILRI 243) to 126 (C. plumieriILRI 191). The overall metabolizable energy (ME) content was 6.58 MJ/kg DM, ranging from 5.79 (C. pubescensILRI 233) to 7.61 (C. plumieri ILRI 191). It was concluded that C. plumieri ILRI 191, C. pubescens ILRI 12297and C. Virginianum ILRI 14541 top performing accessions and can thus be promoted to the next varietyverification stages.