EVALUATION OF IMPROVED NAPIER GRASS (PENNISETUM PURPUREUM (L.) CULTIVARS UNDER FARMERS CONDITIONS IN WEST HARARGHE ZONE, OROMIA REGION, ETHIOPIA

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Abstract:

This study was conducted to evaluate the forage production, chemical composition, in vitro dry matter digestibility and rumen degradability potentials of improved Napier grass cultivars as well as their 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. The dry matter (DM) yield, plant height, leaf length and leaf-stem ratio were measured at harvest. Chemical composition, in vitro DM (IVDMD) digestibility and in sacco rumen DM degradability (DMD) were also analyzed. 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 phenological nature. Five Napier grass cultivars were incubated using the nylon bag technique in the rumen of three steers for 6, 12, 24, 48, 72 and 96 hours. The results shows that, ILRI cultivar no. 16800 was higher (P

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EVALUATION OF IMPROVED NAPIER GRASS (PENNISETUM PURPUREUM (L.) CULTIVARS UNDER FARMERS CONDITIONS IN WEST HARARGHE ZONE, OROMIA REGION, ETHIOPIA

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