Early Growth of Panicum sarmentosum Roxb. – A Promising Grass in Livestock - Coconut Integration System
Feed and Nutrition
Early Growth of Panicum sarmentosum Roxb. – A Promising Grass in Livestock Coconut Integration System
Tarsono1, Mustaring1, A.M. Amir2, and A.L. Amar1
1
Animal Husbandry Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Tadulako University, Indonesia
2
Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, Tadulako University, Indonesia
ABSTRACT
Coconut plantations have been long widely used as growing area. In Central Sulawesi this integrated
system traditionally plays important roles in small scale farmers. In Central Sulawesi, the system is
suitable and productive forage genotypes are important aspect for the production systems. Panicum
sarmentosum and Panicum maximum were compared in a plot trial under coconut plantation at
Lalombi of Lembasada village, South Banawa, district of Donggala. The treatments: P. sarmentosum,
P. maximum, P. sarmentosum with Desmanthus virgatus, and P. maximum with D. virgatus were
replicated 5 times. The 20 experimental units were arranged in completely block randomized design.
This paper reports plant height, number of tiller, and herbage production at the early growth, 8 weeks
after planting, of the grasses. The study has shown that P. sarmentosum grew better than P. maximum,
both on grass monoculture, and on mixed-with desmanthus. P. sarmentosum and P. maximum did not
differ statistically in plant heights, neither without (149.3 cm vs. 141.7 cm), nor with desmanthus
(138.7 cm vs. 133.9 cm). Nevertheless, the number of tillers and dry forage yields of P.sarmentosum
was significantly higher than those of P. maximum, both without and with desmanthus, i.e.; 145 vs. 81
and 124 vs. 75, and 425.6 vs. 235.1 kg/ha and 316.5 vs. 141.2 kg/ha, respectively. The correlation of
these two attributes is also significantly high (R2 = 0.9132). This result has suggested that P.
sarmentosum grows better than P. maximum that well adapts under shade. It is concluded, therefore, P.
sarmentosum is another promising grass for use in shaded niches.
Key words: Panicum sarmentosum; integrated farming; shaded niches
INTRODUCTION
Steady growth of the human population
leads to an increased demand for agricultural
products. These stuffs essentially depend on
agricultural land availability, while this sort of
land is continuously shrinking resulting from
land use convertion (Singh and Ghosh, 1993;
Sukmana, et al., 1994), which is another impact of
the population increase and needs. In addition,
the number of farm animals has increased,
resulting in severe competition for land use
between crops and livestock, therefore, there is an
urgent need for increased productivity per-unit area
from forage plants to help redress the problem
(Blair, 1991; Dzowela and Kwesiga, 1994).
Incorporation of forage plants onto plantation lands
is an alternative solution to provide herbage.
Moreover rising livestock under plantation crops
has long been practised, such as on coconut lands
in Central Sulawesi, though none or very limited
forage improvements have been done by the
farmers.
202
The 1st International Seminar on Animal Industry 2009
Overall integrated farming is suggested as the
largest category of livestock systems in the world
in terms of animal numbers, productivity and the
number of people it services (Thornton et al.,
2002). They maintain that, over the last decade,
meat production from these systems has grown at
a rate of about 2% per year, and about two-thirds
of the rural small-scale farmers rely on mixed
crop-livestock systems for their livelihoods.
Moreover, given the demand increases for
livestock products forecast for the coming
decades, mixed systems are going to have to
provide a disproportionate part of this increase,
especially in developing countries – so they will
become even more important in the future (ILRI,
2000 ).
Coconuts plantation lands have long been
widely used in rising livestock in most of tropical
countries. This integrated land-use system plays
important roles for small scale farmers. In
Central Sulawesi, however, the system is still
practiced by farmer traditionally with limited
forage improvements. Since it is relized that
integrated farming systems are very helpful in
| Faculty of Animal Science, Bogor Agricultural University
Feed and Nutrition
forage supply, significant attentions have been
paid placed by researchers and agronomists on
the use of plantation for the multi-purposes landuse systems. Finding suitable and more
productive forage genotypes is, therefore, one
particular aspect that attracts researches’
attentions. This experiment aimed to compare the
agronomical performances of a new promising
grass species Panicum sarmentosum Roxb. to
Panicum maximum. Grown under coconut
canopy the later species was chosen for
comparison, since it has already been well known
for its suitability under shade environments (see
for instances, Lowry and Jones, 1988; Reynolds,
1995; Ibrahim, 1998), and as a member of
Panicoideae (genus Panicum). Available
information on P. sarmentosum is very scarce,
particularly on forage cultivation, but Clayton et
al. (2008) have explained the grass description.
This grass is considered as a weed; however, few
studies have indicated the grass potential as
forage crop (Amar et al., 2005; Tarsono and
Amar, 2007).
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The current was conducted on farmer’s
coconut-plantation, started on May 2009, at
Lalombi of Lembasada village, sub-district South
Banawa, district of Donggala, Central Sulawesi.
The study site was invested by various weeds,
mainly ferns, shrubby and some herbaceous
species. Soil of the site has quite low fertility
with moderate total nitrogen content (0.29% N),
and very low phosphorus (2.70 ppm P2O5, Bray
I).
Two studied grasses were Panicum
sarmentosum and Panicum maximum that compared as monoculture (either grass alone), as well
as, in mixture with legume Desmanthus virgatus.
Therefore, there were 4 compared treatmentcombinations, i.e.:
PsL0
= Panicum sarmentosum in
monoculture (without legume)
PmL0 = Panicum maximum in monoculture
(without legume)
PsL1
= Panicum sarmentosum with
legume desmanthus
PmL1 = Panicum maximum with legume
desmanthus
The four treatment-combinations were
replicated 5 times, resulting 20 experimental
units. Each of these 20 experimental units was
placed in 15 m2 plot (5 m x 3 m). The
experimental units were arranged by completely
Faculty of Animal Science, Bogor Agricultural University
randomized block design. One replication of the
experimental units was illustrated in Figure 1.
Each of the grasses was planted in 3 rows of
125 cm apart, and 75 cm distance in row. There
were 21 grass planting holes in each plot. Two
vegetative planting materials (tillers) were
planted per-hole. At the grass-desmanthus
mixture, Two 20cm-wide legume planting rows
were formed, each row was placed in between
grass rows (Figure 1). Two hundred and twenty
nine seeds of Desmanthus were sown at each
row, or 458 seeds/plot (equivalent to planting rate
of 2 kg/ha). Seeds were buried at approximately
0.5 cm depth. Desmanthus was planted 28 days
before the grasses’ to allow the legume formed
vigorous seedling prior to the grass planting.
Early growth of the 2 grass genotypes was
compared through 3 plant parameters were; plant
height, number of tillers/planting hole, and drymatter of herbage yields. These parameters were
collected at 8 weeks after planting (56 DAP).
Vertical plant heights were measured from the
base (at soil surface) to the top of the grasses.
Numbers of tillers were counted prior to herbage
harvesting. Herbage was harvested by cutting, all
the clumped grasses in each plot, at 15 cm from
soil surface. Fresh harvested herbage at each plot
was weighed, and sampled approximately of 400
gram for determination of dry-matter content, and
to be used in calculation of herbage production in
dry-matter basis. The samples were dried in a
forced-drought oven at 70oC for 3 days.
All parameter data were analyzed by
‘analysis of variance’ (ANOVA) using statistical
package (Statistix 4.1 windows version). Parameters that statistically affected by experimental
treatment were compared by ’the least significant
differences’ (LSD) at 95% confident level
(P=0.05).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The study has suggested that P.
sarmentosum grew better than P. maximum, both
on grass monoculture, and on mixed-planting
with desmanthus. The plant heights did not differ
statistically (Table 1) between P. sarmentosum
and P. maximum, neither without (149.3 cm vs.
141.7 cm), nor with desmanthus (138.7 cm vs.
133.9 cm). However, the number of tillers and
forage dry-matter yields of P. sarmentosum were
significantly higher than yield of P. maximum,
both without and with desmanthus, i.e.; 145 vs.
81 and 124 vs. 75, and 425.6 vs. 235.1 kg/ha and
316.5 vs. 141.2 kg/ha, for number of tillers and
forage yields, respectively (Table 1).
| The 1st International Seminar on Animal Industry
2009
203
Feed and Nutrition
PsL0
PmL0
PsL1
PmL1
Legume planting rows
Grasses planting rows
Figure 1. Illustration of The Plot Trial (replicated 5 times)
Table 1. Comparison of studied grasses in plant height, number of tillers, and dried-herbage yields at
56 days after planting (n = 5, P = 0.05)
Compared parameters
Treatments
Grass alone
Grass-legume mixture
P. sarmentosum
P. maximum
P. sarmentosum
P. maximum
1) Plants height (cm)
149.3 a
141.7a
138.7 a
133.9 a
2) Number of tillers
145.0 a
81.0b
124.0 a
75.0 b
3) Dried-herbage yields (kg/ha)
425.6 a
235.1 b
316.5 b
141.2 c
Note: values of a parameter followed by different superscript letters differ statistically at 0.95 confident levels.
Grass of P. sarmentosum produced
significantly more number of tillers (shoots), both
in monoculture and in grass-legume mix, over the
grass of P. maximum. Farther, the first grass
species yielded higher herbage than the latter.
These two superior characteristics of P.
sarmentosum over P. maximum were also
approved by highly significant correlation of the
number of tillers and herbage production (R2 =
0.9132; P
Early Growth of Panicum sarmentosum Roxb. – A Promising Grass in Livestock Coconut Integration System
Tarsono1, Mustaring1, A.M. Amir2, and A.L. Amar1
1
Animal Husbandry Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Tadulako University, Indonesia
2
Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, Tadulako University, Indonesia
ABSTRACT
Coconut plantations have been long widely used as growing area. In Central Sulawesi this integrated
system traditionally plays important roles in small scale farmers. In Central Sulawesi, the system is
suitable and productive forage genotypes are important aspect for the production systems. Panicum
sarmentosum and Panicum maximum were compared in a plot trial under coconut plantation at
Lalombi of Lembasada village, South Banawa, district of Donggala. The treatments: P. sarmentosum,
P. maximum, P. sarmentosum with Desmanthus virgatus, and P. maximum with D. virgatus were
replicated 5 times. The 20 experimental units were arranged in completely block randomized design.
This paper reports plant height, number of tiller, and herbage production at the early growth, 8 weeks
after planting, of the grasses. The study has shown that P. sarmentosum grew better than P. maximum,
both on grass monoculture, and on mixed-with desmanthus. P. sarmentosum and P. maximum did not
differ statistically in plant heights, neither without (149.3 cm vs. 141.7 cm), nor with desmanthus
(138.7 cm vs. 133.9 cm). Nevertheless, the number of tillers and dry forage yields of P.sarmentosum
was significantly higher than those of P. maximum, both without and with desmanthus, i.e.; 145 vs. 81
and 124 vs. 75, and 425.6 vs. 235.1 kg/ha and 316.5 vs. 141.2 kg/ha, respectively. The correlation of
these two attributes is also significantly high (R2 = 0.9132). This result has suggested that P.
sarmentosum grows better than P. maximum that well adapts under shade. It is concluded, therefore, P.
sarmentosum is another promising grass for use in shaded niches.
Key words: Panicum sarmentosum; integrated farming; shaded niches
INTRODUCTION
Steady growth of the human population
leads to an increased demand for agricultural
products. These stuffs essentially depend on
agricultural land availability, while this sort of
land is continuously shrinking resulting from
land use convertion (Singh and Ghosh, 1993;
Sukmana, et al., 1994), which is another impact of
the population increase and needs. In addition,
the number of farm animals has increased,
resulting in severe competition for land use
between crops and livestock, therefore, there is an
urgent need for increased productivity per-unit area
from forage plants to help redress the problem
(Blair, 1991; Dzowela and Kwesiga, 1994).
Incorporation of forage plants onto plantation lands
is an alternative solution to provide herbage.
Moreover rising livestock under plantation crops
has long been practised, such as on coconut lands
in Central Sulawesi, though none or very limited
forage improvements have been done by the
farmers.
202
The 1st International Seminar on Animal Industry 2009
Overall integrated farming is suggested as the
largest category of livestock systems in the world
in terms of animal numbers, productivity and the
number of people it services (Thornton et al.,
2002). They maintain that, over the last decade,
meat production from these systems has grown at
a rate of about 2% per year, and about two-thirds
of the rural small-scale farmers rely on mixed
crop-livestock systems for their livelihoods.
Moreover, given the demand increases for
livestock products forecast for the coming
decades, mixed systems are going to have to
provide a disproportionate part of this increase,
especially in developing countries – so they will
become even more important in the future (ILRI,
2000 ).
Coconuts plantation lands have long been
widely used in rising livestock in most of tropical
countries. This integrated land-use system plays
important roles for small scale farmers. In
Central Sulawesi, however, the system is still
practiced by farmer traditionally with limited
forage improvements. Since it is relized that
integrated farming systems are very helpful in
| Faculty of Animal Science, Bogor Agricultural University
Feed and Nutrition
forage supply, significant attentions have been
paid placed by researchers and agronomists on
the use of plantation for the multi-purposes landuse systems. Finding suitable and more
productive forage genotypes is, therefore, one
particular aspect that attracts researches’
attentions. This experiment aimed to compare the
agronomical performances of a new promising
grass species Panicum sarmentosum Roxb. to
Panicum maximum. Grown under coconut
canopy the later species was chosen for
comparison, since it has already been well known
for its suitability under shade environments (see
for instances, Lowry and Jones, 1988; Reynolds,
1995; Ibrahim, 1998), and as a member of
Panicoideae (genus Panicum). Available
information on P. sarmentosum is very scarce,
particularly on forage cultivation, but Clayton et
al. (2008) have explained the grass description.
This grass is considered as a weed; however, few
studies have indicated the grass potential as
forage crop (Amar et al., 2005; Tarsono and
Amar, 2007).
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The current was conducted on farmer’s
coconut-plantation, started on May 2009, at
Lalombi of Lembasada village, sub-district South
Banawa, district of Donggala, Central Sulawesi.
The study site was invested by various weeds,
mainly ferns, shrubby and some herbaceous
species. Soil of the site has quite low fertility
with moderate total nitrogen content (0.29% N),
and very low phosphorus (2.70 ppm P2O5, Bray
I).
Two studied grasses were Panicum
sarmentosum and Panicum maximum that compared as monoculture (either grass alone), as well
as, in mixture with legume Desmanthus virgatus.
Therefore, there were 4 compared treatmentcombinations, i.e.:
PsL0
= Panicum sarmentosum in
monoculture (without legume)
PmL0 = Panicum maximum in monoculture
(without legume)
PsL1
= Panicum sarmentosum with
legume desmanthus
PmL1 = Panicum maximum with legume
desmanthus
The four treatment-combinations were
replicated 5 times, resulting 20 experimental
units. Each of these 20 experimental units was
placed in 15 m2 plot (5 m x 3 m). The
experimental units were arranged by completely
Faculty of Animal Science, Bogor Agricultural University
randomized block design. One replication of the
experimental units was illustrated in Figure 1.
Each of the grasses was planted in 3 rows of
125 cm apart, and 75 cm distance in row. There
were 21 grass planting holes in each plot. Two
vegetative planting materials (tillers) were
planted per-hole. At the grass-desmanthus
mixture, Two 20cm-wide legume planting rows
were formed, each row was placed in between
grass rows (Figure 1). Two hundred and twenty
nine seeds of Desmanthus were sown at each
row, or 458 seeds/plot (equivalent to planting rate
of 2 kg/ha). Seeds were buried at approximately
0.5 cm depth. Desmanthus was planted 28 days
before the grasses’ to allow the legume formed
vigorous seedling prior to the grass planting.
Early growth of the 2 grass genotypes was
compared through 3 plant parameters were; plant
height, number of tillers/planting hole, and drymatter of herbage yields. These parameters were
collected at 8 weeks after planting (56 DAP).
Vertical plant heights were measured from the
base (at soil surface) to the top of the grasses.
Numbers of tillers were counted prior to herbage
harvesting. Herbage was harvested by cutting, all
the clumped grasses in each plot, at 15 cm from
soil surface. Fresh harvested herbage at each plot
was weighed, and sampled approximately of 400
gram for determination of dry-matter content, and
to be used in calculation of herbage production in
dry-matter basis. The samples were dried in a
forced-drought oven at 70oC for 3 days.
All parameter data were analyzed by
‘analysis of variance’ (ANOVA) using statistical
package (Statistix 4.1 windows version). Parameters that statistically affected by experimental
treatment were compared by ’the least significant
differences’ (LSD) at 95% confident level
(P=0.05).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The study has suggested that P.
sarmentosum grew better than P. maximum, both
on grass monoculture, and on mixed-planting
with desmanthus. The plant heights did not differ
statistically (Table 1) between P. sarmentosum
and P. maximum, neither without (149.3 cm vs.
141.7 cm), nor with desmanthus (138.7 cm vs.
133.9 cm). However, the number of tillers and
forage dry-matter yields of P. sarmentosum were
significantly higher than yield of P. maximum,
both without and with desmanthus, i.e.; 145 vs.
81 and 124 vs. 75, and 425.6 vs. 235.1 kg/ha and
316.5 vs. 141.2 kg/ha, for number of tillers and
forage yields, respectively (Table 1).
| The 1st International Seminar on Animal Industry
2009
203
Feed and Nutrition
PsL0
PmL0
PsL1
PmL1
Legume planting rows
Grasses planting rows
Figure 1. Illustration of The Plot Trial (replicated 5 times)
Table 1. Comparison of studied grasses in plant height, number of tillers, and dried-herbage yields at
56 days after planting (n = 5, P = 0.05)
Compared parameters
Treatments
Grass alone
Grass-legume mixture
P. sarmentosum
P. maximum
P. sarmentosum
P. maximum
1) Plants height (cm)
149.3 a
141.7a
138.7 a
133.9 a
2) Number of tillers
145.0 a
81.0b
124.0 a
75.0 b
3) Dried-herbage yields (kg/ha)
425.6 a
235.1 b
316.5 b
141.2 c
Note: values of a parameter followed by different superscript letters differ statistically at 0.95 confident levels.
Grass of P. sarmentosum produced
significantly more number of tillers (shoots), both
in monoculture and in grass-legume mix, over the
grass of P. maximum. Farther, the first grass
species yielded higher herbage than the latter.
These two superior characteristics of P.
sarmentosum over P. maximum were also
approved by highly significant correlation of the
number of tillers and herbage production (R2 =
0.9132; P