Effects Of Grass Suppression On Legume Abundance In A Naturalised Pasture At Zamfara Reserve, Sokoto, Nigeria

Abstract

Amongst the native grassland species encountered were crowfoot grass Dactyloctenium aegyptium and Urochloa mosambicensis. The average crowfoot grass content increased from 24.5% in plots of resident pasture (HO) to 86.2% in the second year ( H2 ) with the residual herbicide effect maintaining 37.9% in first year ( H1 ). The grass suppression did not affect yield in the year of spraying but provided a significant ( P < 0.05 ) response the following year. The most evenly distributed species is Pennisetum pedicellatum followed by Urochloa mosambicensis. Amongst the cutting regimes, 1 and 3cm did not differ significantly , neither did 3 and 5cm, but cutting at 5cm above the soil surface produced significantly taller plants than cutting down to 1cm