Forage Yield and Quality Evaluation of Selected Vetch Species Intercropped with Finger Millet at Different Seeding Ratios in Western Oromia, Ethiopia
Author : Wakgari Keba
Abstract :
This study was conducted to evaluate dry matter yield and quality of three vetch species (Vicia sativa, Vicia vilosa, and Vicia atropurpurea) intercropped with finger millet at different seeding ratios in western Oromia, Ethiopia. The experimental design was Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The treatment consisted of three vetch species, five seeding ratios (0:100, 25:75, 50:50, 75:25 and 100:0% Finger millet: Vetch respectively). Most measured parameters revealed significant (P<0.05) difference among the treatments. The interaction of species and seeding ratios showed a significant difference (P<0.05) for plant height at forage harvesting stage. The maximum and minimum plant heights were obtained from T10 (154 cm) and T5 (85.33 cm) respectively. Dry matter yield of vetch was affected (P<0.05) by the treatments. The highest and the lowest dry matter yield of vetch were obtained from T8 (2.56 t ha-1) and T10 (1.28 t ha-1) respectively. Crude protein (CP) content of vetch had shown significant variation (P<0.05) for the tested treatments and the highest value was obtained from T12 (19.16%). The land equivalent ratio (LER) varied from 0.77 to 1.16. In the present study, LER values greater than 1.0 are recorded from T10 (1.16), T9 (1.08) and T11 (1.03). The highest forage dry matter yield of vetch, which can be supplemented in ruminant ration, was obtained from T8. Thus, it can be concluded that in a mixed crop-livestock production system of Bako and similar agro ecologies vetch can be integrated with Finger millet production in a food-feed production strategy to alleviate the existing feed shortage.
Keywords :
Finger millet, vetch species, seeding ratios, dry matter yield
