Seasonal Productivity of Flemingia Macrophylla under Different Defoliation Frequencies
Flemingia macrophylla is introduced and established with the aim of helping to mitigate the dry season fodder deficit in many developing countries. A study was carried out to assess the effect of season and defoliation frequency on the fodder yield and the chemical constituents of F. macrophylla. The experiment was conducted using a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with 2 2 factorial arrangements of treatments for four-years-old mature stands of F. macrophylla. Dry and wet were the levels of season factor and three months and six months defoliation intervals were the levels of defoliation frequency. Each treatment was replicated for five times. The nutrient contents of fodders were determined using proximate analysis. The results showed that the plants harvested on wet season had higher (p<0.01) dried fodder yield than the plants harvested in dry seasons. The plants defoliated in three months interval had yielded higher (p<0.001) annual fodder biomass than the plants defoliated in six months interval. Likewise, the fodder harvested in the wet season had better nutrient composition compared to the fodder harvested in dry season. Similarly, the fodder harvested in three months defoliation interval had better nutrient composition than the fodders harvested in six months defoliation. The results revealed that the seasonal variation in dry and wet season yields of F. macrophylla was prominent, and harvesting of the fodder in three months defoliation interval could be the better practice in comparison to defoliation in six months interval in order to produce higher fodder yield with better nutrient composition.
