Abstract:
The experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of harvesting day and plant spacing on agronomic
performance and chemical composition of Brachiaria hybrid cv. Mulato II grass under irrigation condition
at Kudmi site, North Mecha District, Ethiopia. The experiment was a 3x4 factorial layout in RCBD with
three replications each contains a total of 12 plots resulted a total of 36 plots and the net harvestable plot
area was 9m² (3m*3m). The harvesting day were at 75, 90 and 105 day and plant spacings used were 20cm,
30cm, 40cm and 50cm between plants. Morphological characteristics such as plant height (PH), number
of tillers per plant (NTPP), numbers of leaf per plant (NLPP), leaf length per plant (LLPP), number of
internodes per tiller (NINPT), average internode length (AINL), number of roots per plant (NRPP), root
length per plant (RLPP), leaf to stem ratio (LSR) and dry matter yield (DMY)) and chemical compositions
of the forage were recorded using the standard methods. About 500gm of Brachiaria Hybrid Mulato II
grass were collected at each harvesting day from each plant spacing. The samples were dried at 65oc for
72 hours and ground to pass through a 1mm sieve then after grounded the sample taken for analyses of
chemical compositions of the forage such as dry matter content (DM); ash content, neutral detergent fiber
content (NDF), acid detergent fiber content(ADF), acid detergent lignin content(ADL), crude protein
content (CP), crude protein yield (CPY). All the morphological, forage yield and chemical composition
data were subjected to General Linear Model (GLM) ANOVA procedures of SAS statistical computer
package version 9.0 and Pearson correlation analysis, with significance tested at p < 0.05. The result of
the current study showed that, main factors (harvesting day and plant spacing) interaction effect was
significant(P<0.05) on NTPP, NLPP, NNPT, NRPP (P<0.001), DMY (P<0.001) and chemical composition
of DM, OM, Ash, CPY NDF, ADE, ADL (P<0.001) and CP (P,0.01) but not (P>0.05) in PH, LLPP, AINL,
LSR, and RLPP. Morphological characteristics of PH, NTPP, NLPP, LLPP, NINPT, AINL, NRPP, RLPP,
DMY and chemical compositions of DM, OM, CPY, NDF, ADF and ADL were increased in advance of
plant maturity while, LSR, Ash and CP content were declined trend with harvesting day increased.
Maximum DMY (16.55 t/ha) and CPY (1.86 t/ha) were recorded from late (105) day of harvest. The
recorded CP content 17.73 at 75, 14.39 at 90 and 11.38 at 105 harvesting day were exceeded the
requirement of CP (7.0%) rumen microbial functioning. The highest NDF content (64.11%) was observed
at late (105) harvesting. The highest DM (94.53%), DMY (14.28 t/ha) and CPY (1.91 t/ha) were recorded
at narrow (20cm) plant spacing. On the other hand, space between plant decreased progressively decreased
the content of NDF, ADF and ADL. From the study, it is concluded that late (105) harvesting day and
narrow (20cm) plant spacing recorded for optimum CP and DM yield of Brachiaria hybrid cv. Mulato II
grass and it can be recommended for forage production in areas having similar condition to the studied
area.
Keyword: Chemical compositions, Forage Characteristics, Harvesting Day, Plant Spacing, Yield,