MACRO MINERAL CONTENTS OF MIXED Panicum maximum AND Stylosanthes guianensis AS INFLUENCED BY PLANTING PATTERNS AND AGE AT HARVEST
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51791/njap.vi.5170Keywords:
Panicum maximum, Stylosanthes guianensis, planting pattern, age at harvestAbstract
A 15-week experiment was conducted on the macro mineral contents of mixed Panicum maximum and Stylosanthes guianensis as influenced by planting patterns and age at harvest. Four planting patterns were employed: Panicum maximum (Pm), Stylosanthes guianensis (Sg), Single row Stylosanthes guianensis with Panicum maximum (SSg+Pm), Double row Stylosanthes guianensis with Panicum maximum (DSg+Pm) and age at harvest: 5, 10, and 15 weeks after planting (WAP). The experiment was laid in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) at 5% probability level. The macro mineral contents determined were P, Ca Mg, K and Na. At 5 WAP, DSg+Pm had the highest (p<0.05) mineral concentrations while SSg+Pm recorded highest content of Ca, Mg and K at 10 and 15 WAP. It can therefore be concluded that interplanting a single row of S. guinensis in P. maximum
and harvesting at 10 weeks after planting will give adequate P, Ca and K concentration to the animals without supplementation. Thus, production and performance of ruminant would be enhanced.
