HERBAGE YIELD AND QUALITY OF GLIRICIDIA-SEPIUM UNDER DIFFERENT CUTTING HEIGHTS AND DEFOLIATION FREQUENCIES

The browse shrub Gliricidia sepium, introduced into the subhumid zone of Nigeria to serve as a supplementary-forage source for ruminant duri ng the dry season, has the undesirable characteristic of shedding its leaves during its flowering phase which coincides with the early dry s eason. This report relates a management practice undertaken to maintai n G. sepium in vegetative growth through the dry season. Evaluation wa s undertaken on the influence of cutting to different heights and defo liation at different frequencies. Eight different accessions of the sp ecies were involved in the study. Cutting generally ensured vegetative growth during the early dry season, with greater shoot development ob served at a cutting height of 0.7 m than at two lower heights. Under t he double harvest regime, dry matter yield was generally highest at fi rst harvest and significantly (P < 0.05) so at a cutting height of 0.3 m than at 0.5 or 0.7 m. Accession HYB yielded more dry matter than th ree other accessions harvested once. Cutting to 0.7 m yielded more lea ves than cutting at lower heights. The foliage contained adequate leve ls of organic matter, crude protein and the minerals, Ca and P while t he accession HYB consistently maintained a higher dry matter yield tha n the other accessions.