Affiliation(s)
1. Department of Animal Sciences, Tadulako University, Palu, Central Sulawesi 94118, Indonesia
2. Department of Agrotechnology, Tadulako University, Palu, Central Sulawesi 94118, Indonesia
ABSTRACT
Two trials were carried out to evaluate the response new introduced
grass Paspalum atratum with different
management in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. The first trial was done to examine the effects of levels
of urea fertilization on growth, biomass production and nutritive value of P. atratum. A 4 × 8 completely randomized block design was employed in this study. The treatment imposed
was four levels of urea
fertilization namely 0, 100, 200 and 300 kg/ha. All
treatments were repeated eight times. The runners of tillers of P. atratum were planted at separation of 75 cm × 75 cm in each 3 m × 3 m plot. Parameters such as plant hight, tiller number, leaf width and nutritive value
of P. atratum were measured at Days 28 and 56 after first cut. The
second trial was conducted to study the effect of P.
atratum, legume
herbs mixture on growth and yield of P. atratum. A
completely randomized block was designed with four treatments, eight
replicates, with 32 total plots. Each plot
comprised of 3 m × 3
m. The treatments tested in this study include P. atratum planted as monoculture
(P), P mixed with Dolichos lablab (PDL), P mixed with Centrosema
pascuorum (PCP) and P mixed with Clitoria ternatea (PCT). Parameters
recorded include plant height, tillage number, leaf
width and biomass
dry matter (DM) production of P.
atratum. The
results of trial one demonstrated that levels of urea fertilisation
significantly (p < 0.05) increased plant height, tillage number, DM
production and crude protein (CP) content, and reduced significantly neutral
detergent fibre (NDF) of P. atratum. No significant effect (p > 0.05) was detected of the level of urea fertilastion on leaf
width, DM, organic matter (OM) and ether extract (EE) of P.
atratum. Experiment two,
exhibited that mix planting between P. atratum with legume herbs did not affect significantly (p > 0.05) plant height, tillage number, leaf width and biomass DM production
of P. atratum.
KEYWORDS
Urea, plant growth, biomass production, intercrop, mixed crops, crude protein, neutral detergent fibre.
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