RESEARCH ARTICLE
Mixed Cropping of Dwarf Napiergrass (Pennisetum purpureum cv. Mott) with Indigofera (Indigofera zollingeriana) using an Alley Cropping System
Renny Fatmyah Utamy1, Herry Sonjaya1, Yasuyuki Ishii2, *, Syamsuddin Hasan3, Maulina Nazira4, Mujtahida Taufik4, Etrid Januarti4
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2021Volume: 15
First Page: 111
Last Page: 118
Publisher ID: TOASJ-15-111
DOI: 10.2174/1874331502115010111
Article History:
Received Date: 04/3/2021Revision Received Date: 25/8/2021
Acceptance Date: 31/8/2021
Electronic publication date: 07/12/2021
Collection year: 2021
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background:
Mixed cropping of forage grasses and legumes can potentially improve the performance of herbivores. However, the feasibility of grasses mixed-cropped with legumes should be examined at different plant densities.
Aim:
This study aimed to evaluate the growth characters and forage chemical composition in dwarf napiergrass (Pennisetum purpureum cv. Mott) with Indigofera (Indigofera zollingeriana) grown using alley cropping.
Methods:
Three densities of dwarf napiergrass with Indigofera, i.e., high density (2 and 1 plants m-2, respectively); medium density (1.33 and 1 plants m-2, respectively); and low density (1 and 1 plants m-2, respectively) were applied under rainfed conditions in Makassar.
Results:
Plant density significantly affected growth characteristics, such as plant height and tiller density in dwarf napiergrass (p<0.05), and non-significantly affected plant height and branch density (p>0.05) in Indigofera. Plant density did not affect the yielding ability at the first defoliation and annual total of yields (p>0.05), except at the second defoliation when the dry matter production of dwarf napiergrass peaked in the low plant density treatment (p<0.05). In terms of chemical composition, plant density significantly affected fiber concentrations of acid detergent fiber and neutral detergent fiber, which were lowest at low plant densities (p<0.05). The acid detergent lignin and cellulose concentrations tended to be lower at low plant densities, but the differences were not significant (p>0.05).
Conclusion:
We consider that alley cropping systems for dwarf napiergrass and Indigofera are suitable if low plant densities are employed in the region.
