Offered Papers Theme A: Efficient Production from Grassland
Description
Pigeon pea is a tropical forage legume usually sown in mixed pastures with tropical forage grasses. Most of the available cultivars shows erect and tall plants with poor tillering potential, breakable thick stems, low leaf/stem ratios (fresh/dry matter) and low persistence under animal grazing. It shows a high dry matter production, due to low leaf/stem ratios (Barnes & Addo, 1997). Pigeon pea shows good crude protein levels/dry matter (ranging from 14-23%) and regular in vitro digestibility indexes (52-58%) (Karachi & Matata, 1996); animal consumption is affected by high tannin levels of young leaves. Being a self-pollinated species, the variability for forage traits occurs among cultivars available at germplasm banks. No significant variation is observed for any forage character within a given population. Effective selection and releasing of new genetic materials bearing desirable morpho-agronomic and forage traits is mostly dependent on increases of genetic variation, which may be accomplished through artificial crossings between selected parentals. This research work was aimed at the synthesis of new pigeon pea hybrids, hopefully bearing new desirable forage characters.
Included in
Agricultural Science Commons, Agronomy and Crop Sciences Commons, Plant Biology Commons, Plant Pathology Commons, Soil Science Commons, Weed Science Commons
New Pigeon Pea (Cajanus Cajan) Hybrids With Desirable Forage Traits
Pigeon pea is a tropical forage legume usually sown in mixed pastures with tropical forage grasses. Most of the available cultivars shows erect and tall plants with poor tillering potential, breakable thick stems, low leaf/stem ratios (fresh/dry matter) and low persistence under animal grazing. It shows a high dry matter production, due to low leaf/stem ratios (Barnes & Addo, 1997). Pigeon pea shows good crude protein levels/dry matter (ranging from 14-23%) and regular in vitro digestibility indexes (52-58%) (Karachi & Matata, 1996); animal consumption is affected by high tannin levels of young leaves. Being a self-pollinated species, the variability for forage traits occurs among cultivars available at germplasm banks. No significant variation is observed for any forage character within a given population. Effective selection and releasing of new genetic materials bearing desirable morpho-agronomic and forage traits is mostly dependent on increases of genetic variation, which may be accomplished through artificial crossings between selected parentals. This research work was aimed at the synthesis of new pigeon pea hybrids, hopefully bearing new desirable forage characters.
