Growth potential and biomass production of reseeded range grasses in Kherimurat scrub forest
Growth potential and biomass production of reseeded range grasses in Kherimurat scrub forest
Asad Abbas Khan1, Amina Batool2, Muhammad Aslam1, Muhammad Ehtesham Asghar3, Abdul Ghafoor1 and Muhammad Arif1
ABSTRACT
Rangelands are pivotal renewable natural resource and grazing is an efficient way of its utilization. Presently these rangelands are desecrated continuously because of high human impact. Contemporary necessity is to reinstate the forage potential by increasing the efficacy of forage species in rangelands by employing various rehabilitation techniques such as reseeding etc. The present study was designed to assess the growth performance and biomass production of reseeded grasses in scrub rangelands of Kherimurat scrub forest of Barani Livestock Production Research Institute, during summer 2010 to spring 2011. Five grass species included Bothriochloa pertusa (palwan), Pennisetum purpureum (Napier), Cynmbopogan distans (Chita), Cenchrus ciliarus (Dhaman) and Themeda anathera (Loondar) were reseeded by broadcast method during summer, 2009. Data collected for morphological parameters including number of leaves per plant, plant height, number of inflorescence and number of tillers per plant at three different growth stages i.e., vegetative, flowering and maturity of grasses was analyzed statistically by ANOVA using RCBD. Significant results were observed among selected grass species in terms of biomass production and growth potential and revealed that Cynmbopogan distans (Chita) grass showed higher morphological growth in comparison to other grasses at all growth stages however Cenchrus ciliarus (Dhaman) grass showed minimum growth. While, Pennisetum purpureum (Napier) showed maximum fresh and dry biomass production in all seasons followed by Cynmbopogan distans (Chita) and is highly recommended for reseeding under rain-fed conditions of Pothowar.
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March 2016
Vol. 66, Iss. 1
