Browsing by Author "Ismail Saidi Selemani"

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Influence of seeding rate on growth performance and yield of early maturing sorghum
(Rangeland Society of Tanzania (RST), 2022-12) Oliver Ngonyani Baltazar; Ismail Saidi Selemani
Heavy grazing pressure in Tanzanian semi-arid rangelands coupled with climate change and variability has resulted into severe decline in forage production and changes in vegetation composition. To increase forage biomass production in the face of climate change and variability, climate resilient fodder crops such as early maturing sorghum have been recommended in arid and semi-arid regions. However, paucity of information on the best agronomic practices especially the optimal seeding rate and row spacing fostered the need to carry out research on growth performance and yield of early maturing sorghum. The experiment was conducted at Magadu Dairy Farm to assess the influence of seeding rate on growth performance and yield of early maturing sorghum. The experiment adopted the Complete Randomized Design (CRD), where different seeding rate (such as 8kg/ha, 12kg/ha, 16kg/ha, 20kg/ha) were assigned randomly and replicated three times making a total of 12 subplots. The row spaces were also varied in reciprocal order with seeding rate (60cm in 8kg/ha, 50cm in 12kg/ha, 40cm in 16kg/ha and 30cm in 20kg/ha). Parameters measured were; number of plants germinated, circumference of the plant, Dry matter (DM) yield and height of the plants. The data were subjected to One Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) using SAS program of 2014 to analyze the effect of seeding rate on growth attributes and yield of early maturing sorghum. The study established the positive correlation of seeding rate stimulate and number of plant as well as plant heights. On the contrary, seeding rate was found to be inversely proportion to plant thickness and number of leaves per plant. The above ground biomass was found to increase with increasing seeding rate up to 22.20 tonnes per ha and slightly declined at the highest seeding rate. We recommend for further studies on nutritive values and palatability of fodder sorghum varieties to livestock.
Morphological characteristics and yield of three brachiaria cultivars subjected to different eco- climatic zones of Tanzania
(Rangeland Society of Tanzania (RST), 2022-12) Ismail Saidi Selemani
Livestock production in Tanzania is limited by scarcity of forage resources, the situation acerbated by the effects of climate change. Replacement of high quality forages with low quality forages have resulted into low milk production in the country (4 to 5 L) which is below the potential of producing at least 15 L per cow per day. Although, high yield fodder grasses such as Brachiaria have been recommended as climate smart fodder grass, little information have been documented in Tanzania particularly the growth performance of these grasses across different eco-climatic zones. The current study tested the performance of three cultivars of Brachiaria (Brachiaria brizantha cv. Piata, Brachiaria brizantha cv. Xaraes and Brachiaria decumbens cv. Basilisk) at three different eco-climatic zones (Humid, sub-humid and semi-arid conditions). The study used the Factorial arrangement where interaction between eco- climatic zones and Brachiaria cultivars were subjected to Two Ways ANOVA. In cases where significant differences were found, the Post Hoc tests were performed using the Duncan Multiple Range Test of SAS 2014 to separate mean values. The study revealed that, sub-humid climate was superior in terms of all growth attributes and biomass yield compared to semi-arid zone which was characterized with poor growth performance. Interestingly, B. decumbens cv. Basilisk was relatively shorter grass but scored the highest values for plant number and biomass yield. Surprisingly, B. brizantha cv Xaraes exhibited relatively higher number of tillers per plant in semi-arid condition besides its relatively poor performance. However, further studies on nutritive values and palatability are recommended for these Brachiaria cultivars.