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Influence of initial cutting date and cutting frequency on yield and quality of star, elephant and Guinea grasses
Author(s) -
OMALIKO C. P. E.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
grass and forage science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.716
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1365-2494
pISSN - 0142-5242
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2494.1980.tb01503.x
Subject(s) - tiller (botany) , dry matter , yield (engineering) , productivity , agronomy , zoology , dry season , population , biology , growing season , mathematics , ecology , demography , physics , sociology , economics , macroeconomics , thermodynamics
Two experiments were conducted to estimate the influence of initial cutting dates in March and April and of cutting frequencies on Guinea grass, elephant grass and star grass productivity. Increasing delay in date of first cut in the season resulted in a progressive increase in dry‐matter yield. 72–81% of the tiller population at any cut were vegetative and this helped to maintain good aftermath yield for each date of first cut. Early April cuts gave the highest dry‐matter yield and early March the least. Harvesting frequencies affected the sward productivity such that the annual dry matter yield increased with increasing harvesting interval from 6800 kg ha ‐1 for a 3‐week interval to 13,000 kg ha ‐1 for a 10‐week interval. The proportion of green leaf in the dry matter dropped from 57·7% at 3‐week intervals to 32·0% at 10‐week intervals. Seasonal effects showed that potential yield was reduced by a short interval between harvests early in the season but not late in the season. Species differences in quality and in the harvesting interval that gave the maximum yields were noted. These results are discussed in relation to management of the sward throughout the growing season.