S Ahmed
Goat and Sheep Production Research Division, Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute, Savar, Dhaka-1341, Bangladesh.
MRH Rakib
Goat and Sheep Production Research Division, Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute, Savar, Dhaka-1341, Bangladesh; Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China.
MA Jalil
Animal Production Research Division, Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute, Savar, Dhaka-1341, Bangladesh.
Cultivar, Harvesting period, Leaf stem ratio, Quality, Yield, Napier, Forage
Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute (BLRI), Savar, Dhaka.
Animal Health and Management
The experiment was conducted at Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute (BLRI), Savar, about 24 kilometers northwest of the capital city of Bangladesh. The site is located at 23°42′0″ N, 90°22′30″ E, at an altitude of 4 mm above the sea level (Huque, 2017). This area's meteorological conditions are more or less similar to the central part of the country concerning temperature, rainfall, and humidity. The study area is situated in a humid subtropical climate with large variations between summer and winter temperatures and is significantly influenced by monsoons from May to September. The mean relative humidity ranged from 54% to 83%. The annual average maximum temperature is about 36oC, and the minimum temperature is about 12.7oC, and the average annual rainfall is about 1,329 mm (LGED, 2014). The condition of the soil of the experimental site is clayed textured, which is strongly acidic (pH 4.5-5.7) containing a very little (<1.5%) organic matter, and it belongs to the Madhupur Terrace Agro-ecological Zone of Bangladesh (Hasan et al., 2019; Huque, 2017). BN-3 and Pakchong-1 grass were used in this study, where BLRI developed BN-3 grass through Napier hybrid accession selection. It is characterized by moderate height with profuse tillering. It has very few barbs in leaves and stems with better LSR. Although the flowering stage of this grass comes into a delay but can be first harvested 50-60 days after plantation with 40-45 days subsequent harvests (Sarker et al., 2019).On the other hand, Pakchong-1 was developed by the Department of Livestock Development, Thailand, which is reported to grow over 3 m tall in less than two months, gives high yields, and can be harvested after 45 days with a CP concentration of 16−18% (Kiyothong, 2014). The plot size for each cultivar was 25 m2 (5m × 5m). Twenty-five stem cuttings with two healthy nodes per cutting were planted in every plot on 28 July 2016 with (1 × 1) m spacing. Before that, the land was prepared by proper ploughing and disc harrowing. Plants along the borders of each plot were excluded from the measurements. At each harvest period, only 05 plants per plot were sampled for studying plant morphology. After each cut, urea fertilizer was applied uniformly at the rate of 50 kg/hector. Weeds were slashed regularly at the time of cutting. Both cultivars were harvested by cutting the stubble 05 cm above the ground level using hand sickles, and fresh stems and leaves of each of the 05 harvested plants were separated and weighed. At harvesting time, each plant constituted a bunch of tillers. Plant height, plant weight, basal circumference at 10 cm above ground level, number of tillers per plant, tiller diameter, leaves per tiller, leaves per plant, and the lowest node diameter were recorded. The plant height was measured from the base of the tiller to the top-most ligule. The diameter of the lowest node was measured with digital Vernier calipers. The total number of leaves was estimated from the tiller number per plant and leaf number per tiller. For DM analysis, about 300 g of stems and leaves sub-samples were bulked separately. The subsamples' dry matter content was determined in an oven at 70°C, for 48 h. The dried samples were ground through a 1.0 mm screen for the determination of crude protein (Kjeldahl- N×6.25), acid detergent fibre (ADF), and neutral detergent fibre (NDF) contents (Van Soest et al., 1991).Based on DM % and fresh stem and leaf yields. We estimated each plant's stem and leaf DM yield. Dry leaf weight was divided by dry stem weight to estimate the LSR. A 2×3 factorial experiment (2 cultivars- BN-3 and Pakchong-1 grass × 3 cutting period at 40, 50, and 60 days) in a randomized block design was laid out in 3 blocks (3 replications). Considering the three cutting periods as treatment, their responses to cultivars biomass production performances and nutrient yield and contents (DM, CP, ADF, and NDF) were analyzed in an ANOVA of a Randomized Block Design (RBD) using a general linear model of SPSS-20.0 statistical software program. Duncan’s Multiple Range Test (DMRT) test was used to test the differences between means. Differences between means were considered significant if P values were less than 0.05.
Bang. J. Anim. Sci. 2021. 50 (1):43-49
Journal