Herbage Characteristics as Affected by the Canopies of Dominant Trees in a Savanna of Southern Mozambique

Herbage Characteristics as Affected by the Canopies of Dominant Trees in a Savanna of Southern Mozambique

This study surveyed the species composition, forage yield and forage nitrogen concentration of the herbaceous layer 50, 100 and 200% of the canopy radius from the trunks of many-stemmed false thorn, knob thorn, scented thorn and marula trees in a southern Mozambican savanna. Tree species did not affect herbaceous DM yield or species diversity. Neither direction nor distance from the tree trunk affected DM or specific diversity. Crude protein percentages were 15% higher for legumes and 9% higher for grasses at 50% canopy than at 200% canopy. Grasses under the marulas, the only non-legume tree in the study, had 18% lower CP than the average for the other three tree species. Green panic was the predominant grass species under the canopies while no single grass species predominated outside the canopy where common urochloa, Themeda triandra and Aristida spp. were the most common grasses. Vigna spp. and Stylosanthes fruticosa were evenly distributed whereas Tephrosia spp. was found predominantly outside the canopy.