Nutritive value Evaluation of Buffel grass and Silver leaf Desmodium Grown in Pure Stands and in Mixture at Different Harvesting Times in Gozamen District, East Gojjam Zone, Ethiopia.

The current study was conducted to evaluate biomass yield and quality of Buffel grass and Silver leaf desmodium grown in pure stand and in mixture at different harvesting times in Gozamen district. The study was conducted in a 3 x3 factorial arrangement of treatments in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. The factors were forage species (Buffel grass, Silver leaf desmodium and Buffel grass/Silver leaf desmodium mixture) and three times of harvesting (HT1, HT2, and HT3). Pure-stand legume and their mixture with grass had a higher crude protein contents compared to pure-stand grass, whereas, pure-stand grass had higher fiber fraction contents compared to pure-stand legume and their mixture with grass. Harvesting time and forage species had significant effect (P<0.05) on CP, NDF, ADF, ADL and ash. However, the interaction effect was significant on ADF and ADL. As harvesting time increase, NDF, ADF, and ADL increased, whereas, CP and ash decreased. The CP content of the grass, legume and their mixture were 15.79%, 17.49% and 20.46% respectively, which are above the minimum level 7% required for optimum rumen function and could also satisfy the minimum CP content of 15% required for lactation and growth. Generally pure legume and grass-legume mixture produced forage with higher CP and lower fiber concentrations compared to pure stand grass. Therefore, grass/legume mixture could play crucial role to alleviate feed shortage problems by increasing the quantity and quality of forage.