Napier grass performance under agroforestry systems of upland area on Tuntang watershed, Indonesia

Abstract

The success of forage cultivation effort extremely depends on several factors, such as kinds of forage, climate, water, and soil fertility. A research on napier grass in agroforestry system conducted to find out soil fertility, growth, production, and quality of forage in agroforestry system in headwaters of Tuntang watershed. This research used factorial plan 2 x 2 which was repeated five times. The first factor was agroforestry system (AFS-1 and AFS-2) and the second factor was defoliation in wet and dry season. Parameter observed were height of plants, forage production, dry matter content, crude protein, and crude fibre. In addition, agroforestry soil samples comprised specific weight of soil, pH, and N total. Height of plant in AFS-1 was higher (85.1 cm) than AFS-2 system (71.5 cm). Season had an affect on plants growth which was shown by height of plant that was lower during dry season (66.8 cm) than during wet season (89.8 cm). AFS-1 system had a better forage yield than AFS-2. Dry matter of forage varied between agroforestry system and season. The lowest dry matter during wet season could be found in AFS-1. The highest protein content in AFS-1 could be found during wet season (11.27%), and the lowest protein content in AFS-2 was during dry season (6.0%). Crude fibre of napier grass in AFS-2 was higher than AFS-1. Crude fibre content during dry season was higher than during wet season. The napier grass in AFS-1 has a better growth, production, and quality than in AFS-2. The growth, forage yield, crude protein and fibre contents during wet season in the upland area of Tuntang watershed are better than during dry season. The best dry matter content is in AFS-2 during dry season and the highest crude protein content of napier grass lies in AFS-1 during wet season. Keywords : Agroforestry, napier grass, crude protein, crude fiber