PERFORMANCE OF SOME COOL-SEASON FORAGE LEGUMES GROWING UNDER DESERT ENVIRONMENT

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1 Legume Res., 35 (3) : , AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATION CENTRE ccjournals.com / indianjournals.com nals.com PERFORMANCE OF SOME COOL-SEASON FORAGE LEGUMES GROWING UNDER DESERT ENVIRONMENT N. S. AL-Ghumaiz Department of Plant Production and Protection-College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Qassim University. Buridah, Qassim The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Received : Accepted : ABSTRACT Pastur asture legume cultivars grown for forage production in the desert t environment, suffers a great deal of heat stress. The study was conducted to evaluate forage yield and quality of newly introduced cool-season legumes cultivars under heat stress in the central region of Saudi Arabia for a period of two years. Eight legume cultivars belonging to five species were established during the 2008 and 2009 growing seasons. Cultivars including: two cultivars of red clover ( (Trifolium pretense L.) (Start and Starfir fire), e), three ee cultivars of white clover ( (Trifolium repens L.) (Kopu II, Ladino and Alice), and a single cultivars of kura clover ( (Trifolium ambiguum Bieb.) (Endura), Birdsfoot trefoil (BFT) ( (Lotus corniculatus L.) (Norcen), and Lucerne ( (Medicago sativa L.) (Caf 101). Cultivars were evaluated based on plant height, total dry y matter yield (DMY) and forage quality.. The results showed that red clover,, white clover and BFT had greater adaption success and produced higher DMY in the environmental conditions of the central region of Saudi Arabia. Only one species (Kura clover) showed poor establishment during the two years of the evaluation. The two years study proved the superiority of lucerne ne of its total DMY,, thus making it a desirable forage crop for cultivation in Saudi Arabia. Key words: Adaption, Desert environment, Dry matter yield, Forage quality, Cool-season species. INTRODUCTION Lucerne is considered the major forage species in Saudi Arabia due to excellent fodder yields. However, keeping in view the extent of livestock production across the country as well as lucerne is a highly water dependent crop, it is important to consider alternative species that may be adapted to the Saudi Arabian environment with good DMY, high forage quality, and have less water requirement. Red clover is a short-lived perennial legume grown worldwide in temperate regions both as a forage legume and rotational crop for soil improvement (Taylor and Quesenberry, 1996; Nelson and McGraw 2003). It is best adapted where summer temperatures are moderately cool to warm. However, it is vulnerable to root rot diseases that may reduce persistence (Taylor and Smith, 1995). White clover is another short-lived perennial legume that is well adapted to humid and temperate *Corresponding author s nghumaiz@hotmail.com climates. Unlike lucerne and red clover, white clover can tolerate both continuous and rotational grazing due to the proliferation of stolon segments (Pederson, 1995). Kura or Caucasian clover is a long-lived perennial rhizomatous legume (Bryant, 1974; Taylor and Smith, 1998). Birdsfoot trefoil is the most important Lotus sp. in North America used for grazing, hay production, and silage occupying an area greater than 1 million ha. These legumes species have been evaluated either for productivity (Sheaffer et al.1992; Taylor and Quesenberry 1996) or forage quality (Kirchhof et al.2010). In the most recent studies conducted in Saudi Arabia, some cool-season grass cultivars showed a promising adaptability when they evaluated under Saudi Arabia s central region conditions (Al-Ghumaiz and Motawei, 2011). Therefore, since red clover, white clover, kura clover, and BFT showed a potential adaptation to a wide range of environmental conditions, grower in desert environment would

2 244 LEGUME RESEARCH benefit from growing such species in their agricultural systems. However, no research has been conducted to study the performance of these species under excessive high temperature and sandy soil conditions of the central region of Saudi Arabia. Thus, this research study has been planned to evaluate the performance of selected cultivars of red clover, white clover, kura clover, and BFT in the central region of Saudi Arabia. MATERIALS AND METHODS Site description and trial establishment : Field experiments were conducted under irrigated conditions during the 2008 and 2009 growing seasons at Qassim University Agricultural Research and Experimental Station located in the central region of Saudi Arabia ( N, 43 O 46 E). The soil of the experimental site was sandy loam in texture that contained low levels of soluble salts (EC=1.5 dsm -1 ) and low organic matter (1.3%) with a ph value of 8.1. Legume cultivars were seeded in November 6, 2007 using 3 m 2 plots (ten rows per plot). The experiment was arranged in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. Each replication consisted of eight legume cultivars: two red clover cultivars (Start and Starfire), three white clover cultivars (Kopu II, Ladino and Alice), one kura clover cultivar (Endura), one BFT cultivar (Norcen) and one non dormant Lucerne cultivar (Caf 101) as a control. Soil was analyzed at Qassim University Soil Testing Laboratory and fertilizers were applied as per recommended doses. Average daily maximum and minimum temperatures and relative humidity for the year 2008 and 2009 were recorded. Data collection and sampling procedure e : Forage biomass samples were clipped at 8 cm height within a 0.30 m 2 quadrate from each plot. Six to eight cutting events were obtained depending on species with 30 to 50 days interval between each cutting. The cutting schedule during the 2008 season was 20-March, 27-April, 5-June, 19-July, 16-September and 30-October. Two extra cuts were taken from lucerne cultivar on 24-June and 19-August, The second year cutting schedule started on 23- December 2008, and continued on 16-February, 22- March, 23-April, 19-May, 18 June, and 20-July The two additional cuts of lucerne cultivar in 2009 were collected on 16-August and 9-September. The samples were oven-dried at 65ºC for 72 hr, and then weighed for DMY determination (tons ha -1 ). Prior to each sampling procedure, average plant heights (cm) were taken by measuring the most representative area of each plot. For forage quality analyses, dried samples were ground to be analyzed for the following parameters: CP (%), CF (%), sugar content (%), EE (%), and ash (%). Chemical analyses were performed at the Forage Analysis Laboratory at the Department of Animal Production and Breeding- Qassim University, according to procedures used by AOAC (1990). Foss TECATOR apparatus (Model: 2300 Kjeltec) was used to measure CP and Model: Fibertec 2010 for CF analysis. Data analysis : The kura clover cultivar was excluded from data analysis due to its poor establishment during both years. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed and mean separation of all parameters were achieved using Fischer s least significant differences (LSD) at P<0.05. Coefficient of variation (CV) was listed to measure the precision of the experiment. All statistical computations were performed using the MSTATC microcomputer program (MSTATC,1990). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Weather patterns : The average maximum air temperatures during 2008 and 2009 were above the long term average. As reported in Table 1, average maximum temperatures in 2008 summer months (June, July, August and September) varied between 41.9 to 44.9 o C. In 2009, average maximum temperatures ranged from 42.6 to 45.6 o C. The highest temperatures, 48 o C and 47 were recorded in the month of July,2008 and 2009 respectively. This extreme temperatures depressed regrowth in all clover varieties (with the exception of lucerne) resulting in advancement of intervals between cutting frequency. Minimum temperatures during winter months (December, January, February) ranged from 4.9 to 6.8 o C in 2008 and 4.4 to 10 o C in Relative humidity in summer months ranged from 17.6% to 22.5% and 19.6% to 23.3% during 2008 and 2009 respectively. Moreover,

3 245 TABLE 1: Average daily minimum and maximum air temperatures ( o C) for 2008 and 2009 seasons compared with long-term average (LTA) (27-Years) and mean relative humidity (MRH) at the experimental sites. LTA (27-Years) 2008 Ave. Daily Temp Ave. Daily Temp. MRH (%) Month T min T min Range T min Range ( C) ( C) ( C) ( C) ( C) ( C) ( C) ( C) Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Source: Presidency of Meteorology & Environmental Protection-Saudi Arabia. highest relative humidity recoded in winter months. Relative humidity in January of 2008 was 62.1%, and 74% in December, 2009 (Table 1). High relative humidity along with cool temperatures enhanced growth for cool season species. Therefore, the optimum DMY was obtained during winter months. Yield perfor formance and persistence : Significant year x cultivar interactions were found in total DMY, CF, ash, sugar and plant height for all cultivars (Table 2). These interactions are primarily attributed to weather conditions varying from year to year, as well as, variation among cultivars. No interactions were observed for CP and EE analyses. Significant differences (P<0.05) in total DMY (tons-ha 1 ) were found among the seven cultivars. However, no significant differences in DMY were found between start and stairfire-red clover and between ladino and kopu II- white clover (Table 4). Data analysis showed there was some seasonal variation in total DMY between cultivars and within species. Comparison of the two years performance in DMY, the data indicated that there was a trend towards a lower total DMY and plant height in 2009 versus 2008 for the two red clover cultivars. As presented in Table 3, start-red clover was 32% lower in total DMY through 2009 vs.2008 (15.51 vs tons ha -1 ) and startfire was 22% lower in total DMY (17.62 vs tons ha -1 ). In addition, Start was 39% lower in plant height in 2009 compared to 2008 (25.02 vs cm) and 34% lower for Startfire cultivars (24.50 vs cm). As mentioned previously, red clover is susceptible to diseases such as root rot causing a decline in its plant stands (Taylor and Smith, 1995), which helped explain the reduction in 2009 productivity in red clover cultivars. However, the trend of lower total DMY and plant height did not occur for the three white clover cultivars, which, showed an increase of total DMY in 2009 as compared to year For example, Ladino increased approximately 42% in 2009 TABLE 2: Combined analysis of variance for forage quality components (%), total DMY (tons-h 1 ) and plant height (cm) of seven legume cultivars in the central region of Saudi Arabia over a two-year period (2008 and 2009 season). SOV df ASH % CF % EE % CP % Sugar % Total DMY Plant Height Year (y) ** ** Error Cultivars (C) ** 25.84** 0.88** 6.11** 18.76** ** ** YxC ** 4.49* ** 37.27** 86.43** Error CV % 13.10% 6.21% 10.73% 5.61% 4.17% 12.78% 12.67% ** P<0.01. DF= Degree of Freedom,CF= Crude Fiber, EE= Ether Extract, CP = Crude Protein,DMY=Dry Matter Yield.

4 246 LEGUME RESEARCH TABLE 3: Effect of interaction between years and cultivars on total DMY (tons-h 1 ), and plant height (cm) of seven legume cultivars growing in the central region of Saudi Arabia over seasons. Species Cultivars Total DMY (tons-h 1 ) Plant Height (cm) Red clover Start Startfire White clover Ladino KopuII Alice BFT Norcen Lucerne Caf LSD comparing with 2008 season (21.23 vs tons ha -1 ); Kopu II was 37% higher in 2009 (19.64 vs tons ha -1 ); and a slight increased by15% in total DMY (14.31 vs tons ha -1 ) was observed in Alice during 2009 (Table 3). The boost in 2009 productivity in white clover cultivars attributed to excellent stolen production which spread and form new plants (Pederson,1995). In addition, lucerne had an optimum total DMY (average two years is 37.5 tons ha -1 ) and plant height (average two years is 63.4 cm) with exceptional persistence over the new cool-season legume cultivars. This is because lucerne is more tolerant to heat stress and can survive temperature above 50 o C (Barnes and Sheaffer,1995) In contrast, Endura-kura clover showed the lowest persistence over all cultivars used in this study. It is well known that the establishment of kura is somewhat difficult as it grows more slowly during the establishment year than other clover species (Speer and Allinson, 1985). Thus, this study concluded that kura clover may have difficulty to adapt to heat stress and sandy soils in the central region of Saudi Arabia. Forage Quality : With respect to forage quality analyses, results presented in Table 4 indicated no significant differences in CP concentration among cultivars with the exception of Norcen-BFT. In addition, there was a significant difference (P<0.05) in CF among species. No significant differences were observed in CF within red clover and white clover cultivars. Even though, lucerne provided the highest total DMY, it had the highest CF (22.04%) and low sugar content (41.81%). This observation may associated with the advanced stage of maturity of lucerne at the cutting dates causing increase fiber content. In this study, lucerne provided a normal range of CP (20.99%), which keeps it among the top in nutritive value, particularly for ruminant animals. These findings were in an agreement with those obtained by Marten et al. (1988). Significant differences (P<0.05) in sugar content between TABLE 4: Forage quality components (%), total DMY(tons-h 1 ), and plant height (cm) of the of seven legume cultivars growing in the central region of Saudi Arabia over a two- year period (2008 and 2009 seasons). Species Cultivar ASH % CF % EE % CP % Sugar % Total DMY Plant Height Red clover Start 11.01c 18.36b 3.72a 20.48a 44.65a 19.09b 33.04b Startfire 11.80c 18.35b 3.58ab 20.59a 44.54a 20.05b 30.86b Ladino 14.53b 16.81c 2.85d 20.84a 43.46ab 18.06b 21.09c White clover KopuII 14.37b 15.95c 2.95cd 20.83a 44.65a 16.98b 22.04c Alice 13.02bc 16.48c 3.29bc 20.03a 45.46a 13.38c 19.24c BFT Norcen 20.35a 16.76c 2.76d 18.09b 40.60c 12.44c 20.74c Lucerne Caf c 22.04a 2.88cd 20.99a 41.81ab 37.37a 63.41a LSD Mean values within each column follow by the same latter are not statistically different at P<0.05 level according to Duncan s Multiple Range Test..

5 species were found. No significant difference in sugar content existed between the red clover or white clover cultivars (Table 4). However, in general, data of forage quality shown in the Table 4 was in a normal range for all cultivars. CONCLUSIONS Growers in Saudi Arabia should consider selecting forage species, which are persistent, produce high levels of DMY with high forage quality for profitable systems. In this research study, coolseason forage legume cultivars showed a variation in adaption under environment conditions of the central region of Saudi Arabia. This study proved the superiority of lucerne over all tested species make it a desirable crop for Saudi Arabia. Red clover exhibited potential success which may allow it to in Saudi Arabia. White clover and BFT had some success in their ability to survive during the hot summer in the central region of Saudi Arabia. Whereas Kura clover is not good for growth in the central region of Saudi Arabia due to its poor establishment. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author gratefully acknowledges the Deanship of Scientific Research at Qassim University for funding this project. My thanks to Dr. Mohammed Motawei,for his support in this project and Dr. Abdel-Salam Menshawy, for his assistance in the statistical analyses. My gratitude is extending to Dr. Timothy Dietz, Forage Research Assistant at Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Michigan State University for reviewing this manuscript. compete with lucerne with to regards to productivity REFERENCES Al-Ghumaiz N, Motawei MI.(2011) Productivity, Forage Quality and the Presence of Dehydrin Genes in Some Introduced Pasture Grass Cultivars Growing Under Heat Stress in Central Region of Saudi Arabia. Aust J Crop Sci.:5: AOAC, (1990). Official Methods Of Analysis of the Association of official Agricultural Chemists. Washington, DC.USA. Barnes DK, Sheaffer CC.(1995). Forage Legumes and Grasses Alfalfa In: Forages volume I: An introduction to grassland agriculture, 5 th edn. Ames IA. Iowa State University Press. pp Bryant WG.(1974). Caucasian clover (Trifolium ambiguim. Bieb): A review. J. Aust. I. Agr. Sci. 40: Kirchhof S, Eisner I, Gierus M, Südekum KH. (2010). Variation in the contents of crude protein fractions of different forage legumes during the spring growth. Grass Forage Sci, 65: Marten GC, Buxton, DR. Barnes, RF. (1988). Feeding value (Forage quality). In Hanson AA, Barnes DK, Hill Jr. RR. (eds), Alfalfa and Alfalfa Improvement. American Society of Agronomy. Madison WI. pp MSTATC. (1990). A microcomputer program for the design. Management, and Analysis of Agronomic Research Experiments. Michigan State University. East Lansing, MI, USA. Nelson CJ, McGraw RL. (2003). Legumes for Northern Areas. In (Barnes RF, Nelson CJ, Collins M Moore KJ. (eds),) 6 th edn. Forage vol.1 an introduction to grassland agriculture Ames IA. Iowa State University Press. pp Pederson GA. (1995). White clover and other perennial clovers. In R.F. Barnes, D.A. Miller, Nelson, C.J., eds., Forages volume I: An introduction to grassland agriculture, 5 th edn. Ames IA. Iowa State University Press. pp Sheaffer CC, Marten GC, Jordan RM, Ristau EA. (1992). Forage potential of kura clover and birdsfoot trefoil when grazed by sheep. Agron J. 84: Speer GS, Allinson DW. (1985). Kura clover (Trifolium ambiguum): Legume for forage and soil conservation. Econ Bot. 39: nb. Taylor NL, Quesenberry KH. (1996). Red Clover Science. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Norwell, MA. Taylor NL, Smith RR.(1998). Kura clover (Trifolium ambiguim.m.b) breeding, culture, and utilization. Adv Agron. 63: Taylor NL, Smith RR.(1995). Red clover. In: Barnes RF, Miller DA, Nelson CJ (eds),forages volume I: An introduction to grassland agriculture, 5 th edn. Ames IA. Iowa State University Press. pp