Cutting management of alley cropped leucaena/gliricidia-Guinea grass mixtures for forage production in southwestern Nigeria

Abstract

A study was conducted at Fasola (7°45′ N and 3°5′ E) in southwest Nigeria to determine the best tree cutting scheme for forage production and the effects of hedge configurations on tree, grass and total forage productivity of 6–8-year-old leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala Lam. de Wit) and gliricidia (Gliricidia sepium Walp.)-Guinea grass (Panicum maximum Jacq. cv. Ntchisi) mixture. After a uniform cut at the end of January 1990 (mid-dry season), the trees were cut according to the following cutting regimes: one cut after a 12-month regrowth (12M); two cuts after three- and nine-month regrowth (3–9M); two cuts every six months (6-6M); two cuts after nine- and three-month regrowth (9-3M); three cuts, two cuts every three months and the third cut after a six-month regrowth (3-3-6M), and four cuts every three months (3-3-3-3M). Grass was cut every six weeks between April and October followed by a cut in January. The hedge configuration was either one or three hedgerows of mixed stands of leucaena and gliricidia. There were twice as many trees and one-third less grass in the triple than in the single hedgerow hedge configuration.

The 3-3-3-3M, 9-3M and 3-3-6M cutting regimes produced the highest total forage (tree foliage + grass) dry matter yields (DM) of 6.54, 5.80 and 5.77 t DM ha⁻¹ annum⁻¹, respectively. The magnitude of the difference between the tree forage yields of the triple and single hedgerow plots (16%) did not reflect the theoretical difference in the number of trees (33%) in the two arrangements.