Abstract:
The purpose of this experiment was to assess the morphological parameters, dry matter yield and nutritional content, of a few selected cultivars of Brachiaria, Desho, and Napier grasses grown for two years under various fertilizer treatments. The field experiment was carried out at Robit Bata Kebele in the Bahir Dar Zuria district of Amhara region, Ethiopia. In the trial, four fertilizer rates (0,100kgN, 300kg N and manure) and three grass varieties (Brachiaria decumbens ILRI-10871, Pennisetum glaucifolium Areka-DZF-590, and Cenchrus purpureus ILRI-16791) were used. Each 9-m2 plot in the treatments was arranged in a 3x4x2 factorial configuration arranged in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Hand labor was used for agronomic tasks like weeding, fertilizer application, and hoeing. Morphological data were collected from 10 randomly selected plants grown in the middle rows of each plot. The harvested forage samples were weighted, dried, and then grounded for chemical composition analyses using Near-infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy. All recorded dataset were managed using Microsoft excel 2010 and subjected to a general linear model procedure of SAS (9.0) and Pearson correlation analysis, at significance level of alpha <0.05. The findings demonstrated that the morphological characteristics, dry matter yield, and nutritional values were strongly impacted by the interaction of fertilizer application, year, and grass varieties. Cenchrus purpureus ILRI-16791 produced the tallest plant (175.0 and 187.0cm), and the highest dry matter yield (12.5 and 21.88 t/ha) when measured at manure fertilizer in the first and second year production, respectively. The lowest CP % was found in desho (6.21 t/ha) and B. decumbens (9.23 t/ha) cultivated without fertilizer in the first and second years, respectively, while the maximum CP % was found in Cenchrus purpureus ILRI-16791 (13.72 and 14.09%) at manure fertilizer. Cenchrus purpureus ILRI-16791 (34.09%) and Pennisetum glaucifolium Areka-DZF-590 (35.68%) at manure fertilizer had the lowest ADL %, whereas B. decumbens (47.93 and 46.92%) had the greatest ADF % without fertilizer in the first and second years, respectively. The highest ME was found in Cenchrus purpureus ILRI-16791 (11.77 MJ/kg at 300 kg N and 12.84 MJ/kg with manure), whereas the highest IVOMD was found in Napier (60.36 and 68.09%) with manure fertilizer in the first and second years, respectively. Moreover, the highest net benefit was obtained from Napier grass at manure fertilizer (39337.5 and 73358.76 birr) and the lowest net benefit was recorded from B.decumbens at without fertilizer (21318.7 birr) and 100kg/ha N fertilizer (32241.51birr) in the first and second years, respectively. In conclusion, in the research areas and other agro-ecologies where there is similar agro-ecology, the Napier grass-16791 with manure fertilizer would have a more advantageous production performance to meet forage quantity, economic feasibility and nutritional value demands.