INTRODUCTION OF DIGITARIA AND CYNODON ON THE SEMIARID SOUTHERN COAST OF PUERTO-RICO

Nine forage grass introductions (eight Digitaria and one Cynodon) were evaluated at 49-day harvest intervals under irrigation in the semiari d southern region of Puerto Rico. C. dactylon USDAPI 255455 (Coast Cro ss No. 1) produced the highest dry matter yield (DMY) throughout the s even cuts of each of the 2 years. However, no significant differences were observed between C. dactylon USDAPI 255455 and D. milanjiana 6416 and 6415 during each of the years in which the grasses were evaluated . In terms of the combined DMY of both years, C. dactylon 255455 was s ignificantly superior to the rest of the introductions with the except ion of D. milanjiana PRPI 6416. The in vitro organic matter digestibil ity (IVOMD) of C. dactylon 255455 was significantly less than that of both D. milanjiana 6416 and 6415. On the other hand, D. milanjiana pre sented the highest IVOMD on the cuts of the long and short day season. The crude protein (CP) content was very similar in most of the introd uctions under evaluation; however, D. milanjiana PRPI 6416 was the low est in CP content during the short day season cut.