The Use of the Double-sampling Procedure and the Dry Weight Rank Method (DWR) for Herbage Mass and Composition Determination

摘要

HERBAGE mass was assessed by two methods. The first, was the quadrate method by which herbage mass was assessed to be 314 kg/ha and 394 kg/ha when quadrates of areas lm~2 and 0.5 nr were used, respectively. This method was found to be laborious, destructive and time consuming. The second, was the Double-sampling procedure. Herbage mass was calculated by a linear regression in the form of: Y = a + b X. The results indicated that, the co-efficient of determination (R~2) of the three persons were foundto be 0.97, 0.98 and 0.94 with lm~2 quadrate and they were 0.98, 0.97 and 0.99 with 0.5m~2 quadrate. Herbage mass was calculated to be 308 kg/ha for (lm~2) and 318 kg/ha for (0.5m~2). The results do not show any significant differences between the threepersons and the two quadrate sizes. On the other hand, the Dry Weight Rank (DWR) method was used in conjunction with the Double sampling procedure to assess herbage mass composition. The results show that, these values fall within the range of 0.2 percent and 37 percent of herbage mass composition with lm~2 quadrate size and on the range of 0.1 percent and 55 percent of herbage mass composition with 0.5m2 quadrate size. The combined methods were not laborious, nondestructive and not time consuming. Theywere also considered to be productivity based and they are highly recommended for application in this study area and other similar areas.