A STUDY ON COMBINATIONS OF CYNODON-DACTYLON CV-67 AND PANICUM-MAXIMUMCV LIKONI DURING THE ESTABLISHMENT

A random block design with 3 replications for studying the establishme nt of guinea grass likoni (Panicum maximum cv Likoni), Coast cross ber muda grass (Cynodon dactylon cv 67) and three combinations of the numb er of rows of each one of the species (1 x 1; 2 x 2 and 3 x 3) was use d. The combination of 3 rows of guinea grass and 3 of bermuda grass wa s the highest yielding (P < 0.05) with 2852 kg DM/ha. This result was 57% higher than the bermuda grass control (1109 kg DM/ha) and 10% high er than the guinea grass control (2814 kg DM/ha). The botanical compos ition of guinea grass varied between 63.3 and 68% in the three combina tions and 100% in the guinea grass control 176 days after sowing. In t he case of bermuda grass and weeds they represented less than 50% of t he plot area in the combinations and 50% in the bermuda grass control. It is concluded that the combination 3 x 3 was the one which showed b est results and the grazing evaluation under different soil and climat ic conditions, is suggested.