Forage evaluation in acidic soil and dry areas of Rwanda

A study aimed at characterising nutritive value of introduced Brachiaria grasses in Rwanda was conducted. Four Brachiaria grasses including, Brachiaria decumbens cv. Basilisk, Brachiaria brizantha cv. MG4, Brachiaria brizantha cv. Piatã and Brachiaria cv. Cayman with Panicum coloratum as control were planted in two contrasting areas (low rainfall-Kirehe district and acidic soils - Nyamagabe district) and harvested after 60 days and 90 days. The experiment was set in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four replications. The data collected were dry matter (DM), crude proteins (CP) and In vitro gas production was used to estimate metabolisable energy (ME). Also, soill composition, especially carbon and Nitrogen were recorded. The data, further contains yield for ME and DM.本研究旨在表征卢旺达引进的臂形草属（Brachiaria）牧草的营养价值。试验共选取4种臂形草属栽培牧草，分别为毕斯利克垂枝臂形草（Brachiaria decumbens cv. Basilisk）、MG4号短序臂形草（Brachiaria brizantha cv. MG4）、皮亚塔短序臂形草（Brachiaria brizantha cv. Piatã）以及开曼臂形草（Brachiaria cv. Cayman），以变色稷（Panicum coloratum）作为对照材料。试验设置两类对比生境：低降雨条件的基雷赫区与酸性土壤条件的尼亚马加贝区，分别于定植后60天和90天进行刈割收获。本试验采用完全随机区组设计（Randomized Complete Block Design, RCBD），设置4次重复。采集的观测指标包括干物质（Dry Matter, DM）与粗蛋白质（Crude Protein, CP）含量，同时采用体外产气量法估算代谢能（Metabolisable Energy, ME）。此外还记录了土壤组分数据，重点测定了土壤有机碳与全氮含量。本数据集进一步包含代谢能与干物质的产量数据。