Effects of spacings and cutting intensities on Leucaena intercropping with grasses
1997
Chunjit Kaewkunya
Effect of spacings and cutting intensities on leucaena intercropping with grasses were studied under the irrigated and non irrigated conditions. The grasses used in the study were ruzi grass, dwarf napier and napier Taiwan A25. Three spacings viz. 1 2 and 4 meters and two cutting heights viz. 10 and 25 centimeters were imposed. The experiment was carried out at Nation Corn and Sorghum Research Center, Pakchong district, Nakornratchasima in 1995-1996. The results showed that the leucaena and dwarf napier mixture produced the highest yield under both the irrigated and non irrigated conditions, followed by the plot grown with napier Taiwan A25 and ruzi grass respectively. Growing leucaena 4 meter between rows, gave the highest yield. The components of the mixture was mainly from the grasses. There were very little effect of cutting heights on growth and total dry matter yield of leucaena, but there was no effect on the growth and total dry matter of grasses. In terms of herbage quality, it was found that crude protein of leaves and stems of the dwarf napier was higher than that of the two grasses. The phosphorus concentration of all the grasses were similar, but the potasium concentration of the two napier grasses were higher than that of ruzi grass. For ADF level of leaves and stems of the plants, it was found that the value found in the leaves of ruzi grass was the lowest. When compared leucaena with the grasses, leucaena gave higher crude protein than the grasses. In contrast, phosphorus and potasium concentrations were lower than that the grasses. A similar result was found in the case of ADF value of the leaves of leucaena, but higher in the stems. The results showed that use of leucaena grown in mixture with grasses under the irrigated and non irrigated conditions was to increase the herbage quality especially for the protein contents.
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