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    Andropogon Gayanus

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    Sophia Mitz Aya-ay
    Gayanus is a tall perennial grass native to Africa that is commonly cultivated in northern Australia as a pasture grass. It forms dense patches that can outcompete native species. It is highly tolerant of a wide range of soils and moisture conditions. Gayanus produces high dry matter yields but the nutritional quality decreases rapidly after flowering. It is well accepted by cattle when young but becomes coarse and fibrous if overgrown. While drought tolerant and productive, it can spread rapidly and impact the environment without proper grazing management.

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    Andropogon Gayanus

    Uploaded by

    Sophia Mitz Aya-ay
    277 views10 pages
    Gayanus is a tall perennial grass native to Africa that is commonly cultivated in northern Australia as a pasture grass. It forms dense patches that can outcompete native species. It is highly tolerant of a wide range of soils and moisture conditions. Gayanus produces high dry matter yields but the nutritional quality decreases rapidly after flowering. It is well accepted by cattle when young but becomes coarse and fibrous if overgrown. While drought tolerant and productive, it can spread rapidly and impact the environment without proper grazing management.

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    Andropogon gayanus

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    Andropogon gayanus

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    Gayanus is a tall perennial grass native to Africa that is commonly cultivated in northern Australia as a pasture grass. It forms dense patches that can outcompete native species. It is highly tolerant of a wide range of soils and moisture conditions. Gayanus produces high dry matter yields but the nutritional quality decreases rapidly after flowering. It is well accepted by cattle when young but becomes coarse and fibrous if overgrown. While drought tolerant and productive, it can spread rapidly and impact the environment without proper grazing management.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    277 views10 pages

    Andropogon Gayanus

    Uploaded by

    Sophia Mitz Aya-ay
    Gayanus is a tall perennial grass native to Africa that is commonly cultivated in northern Australia as a pasture grass. It forms dense patches that can outcompete native species. It is highly tolerant of a wide range of soils and moisture conditions. Gayanus produces high dry matter yields but the nutritional quality decreases rapidly after flowering. It is well accepted by cattle when young but becomes coarse and fibrous if overgrown. While drought tolerant and productive, it can spread rapidly and impact the environment without proper grazing management.

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    gayanus

    Scientific name: Andropogon gayanus


    Family: Gramineae - South Australia
    Poaceae - Queensland, New South Wales, the ACT, Victoria, Tasmania,
    Western Australia and the Northern Territory
    Origin: Native to most of sub-Saharan Africa and is commonly cultivated in northern
    Australia as a high yielding pasture grass. 
    Common names:
    •Gamba grass
    •Bluestem (Africa, Australia)
    •Rhodesian andropogon (southern Africa)
    •Rhodesian blue grass (Zimbabwe)
    •Onga, Tambuki grass (north-west Africa) 
    •Sadabahar (India)
    *Gamba grass has been declared a noxious species in Australia, where it
    forms dense patches, out-competing native species and altering
    ecosystems.

    Morphological description:
    A tall perennial grass with short rhizomes
    Forming tussocks up to 1 m diameter.   
    Leaves (up to 1 m long) green, becoming bluish under moisture stress, with a strong
    white midrib. 
    Stems are usually quite robust and are often quite hairy.
    Seed-heads are large branched, leafy, panicles that consist of numerous pairs of
    elongated flower clusters (4-9 cm long).
    Seeds (7-9 mm long) are quite hairy and have a large, bent and twisted, awn (1-4 cm
    long).
    Uses/application:
    Sown as permanent pasture on commercial ranches;  it can be
    stocked heavily during the wet growing season (at 4-5 beasts/ha)
    making it useful for holding paddocks as it can feed a large number
    of cattle for a short time. 
    Cut for fresh feed and for fodder conservation by smallholders.
    Lower fertility demand has allowed rehabilitation of run-down
    paddocks.
    Used in Nigeria for reclaiming overgrazed land.  10 m wide strips of
    A.gayanus have been planted in fields of millet to reduce wind
    erosion occurring at start of wet season. 
    The thick stems are used for thatch in Africa.
    ECOLOGY
    Soil requirements
     Adapted to a wide range of soil types - sands to clays, alkaline to
    strongly acid (pH 4-7.5), infertile to fertile - but grows best on loams of
    moderate fertility.
     Good tolerance of high Al (>80% saturation) through exclusion of the
    element, but not salinity. 
     Gamba grass can tolerate some waterlogging .
    • Moisture
     Can grow in environments with 400-3,000 mm rainfall, and withstand a strong
    dry season of up to 9 months, but prefers >750 mm rainfall with 3-7 months dry
    season. 
     Its root system provides excellent drought tolerance with the leaf remaining
    green.  Some types can stand short-term flooding but most have poor tolerance.
    ECOLOGY
    • Temperature
     Best growth in lowlands of the tropics and warmer subtropics (to 20º of
    latitude) as growth is restricted where mean minimum temperature of the
    coldest month is below 4.4ºC. 
     Leaves are killed by frost.  Optimal flowering at 25ºC.
    • Defoliation
    - Highly tolerant of cutting;  good regrowth within 30 days. 
    - Good tolerance to both continuous and rotational grazing (35 days rest in
    wet season and 42 days in dry season recommended). 
    - Established stands can be grazed heavily (4 animals/ha in wet season, 1/ha
    in dry season) with the large tussock bases persisting. 
    - Gamba grass should be grazed or cut to maintain new green leaf as mature
    growth of leaf and stem is coarse and of low nutritional value.
    Nutritive value:
    - Nutritional value is moderate in young growth CP 7-10% (up to 18% CP ), but P
    levels can be low due to growth dilution in the wet season. 
    - Feed value decreases rapidly after flowering, and so conserved feed is often of
    little nutritional value.  Mature stems are best used for thatch.
    - IVDM Digestibility is up to 63% during the wet season but drops to 30-40% at the
    end of the dry season.

    • Palatability/acceptability
    - Young growth of gamba grass is palatable. 
    - Well accepted by cattle throughout the year under moderate grazing pressures, but
    becomes coarse and fibrous if under-grazed.
    • Toxicity: No animal disorders reported.
    Production potential
    • Dry matter
    - Highly productive but DM yield (4-25 t/ha) up to 30 t/ha will
    depend on soil fertility and rainfall . 
    • Animal production
    - Animal production on gamba grass savannah is low at 90-120
    kg/head/yr because of weight loss during the dry season.
    - Addition of a legume can raise this to 150 kg/hd/yr. 
    • Strengths
    Drought-tolerant.
    Adapted to infertile soils but responds to fertility.
    High DM yields with young leaf palatable.
    • Limitations
    o Low quality when mature resulting in management problems.
    o Poor seedling vigour and unreliable establishment with low quality
    seed.
    o Rapid spread from wind-blown seed.
    o Potential environmental weed without grazing management.
    • Lenne, J.M. and Trutmann, P. (eds) (1994). Diseases of Tropical Pasture
    Plants. CABI, Wallingford, UK.
    • Peters, M., Franco, L.H., Schmidt, A. and Hincapie, B. (2003) Especies
    forrajeras multiproposito: Opciones para productores de
    Centroamerica. CIAT Publication No. 333. CIAT, Cali, Colombia.
    • Schultze-Kraft, R. (1992) Andropogon gayanus Kunth. In: 't Mannetje, L.
    and Jones, R.M. (eds) Plant Resources of South-East Asia No. 4. Forages.
    pp. 44-46. (Pudoc Scientific Publishers, Wageningen, the Netherlands).
    • http://www.fao.org/ag/AGP/AGPC/doc/Gbase/DATA/pf000174.htm
    http://www.fao.org/ag/AGA/AGAP/FRG/afris/Data/21.HTM

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