Performance of Desmodium ovalifolium Wall. in legume-grass associations

Abstract

Forage attributes of Desmodium ovalifolium Wall. were tested in several legume-grass associations in clipping experiments on an acid ultisol in the Cuaca Valley, Colombia, and under grazing, on an infertile oxisol, in the Colombian Eastern Plains (Llanos Orientales) region. This species is tolerant of acid soil conditions including high aluminium saturation. In pure stands D. ovalifolium yielded better than Centrosema sp. CIAT 438 and Galactia striata CIAT 964, under six and eight-week cutting regimes. Plant N and P contents of D. ovalifolium were inferior to those of the other two legumes. D. ovalifolium established itself well and formed productive pastures with the aggressive, stoloniferous Brachlaria decumbens and B. brizantha as well as with the vigorous, tufted Andropogon gayanus and Panicum maximum. The wider testing of D. ovalifolium especially in association with Brachiaria spp. in lowland tropical regions with an annual rainfall of 2000 mm or more is recommended.