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Leguminosae
Synonyms
C. barbatus Schumach.
Common names
Haskanit, abu sha'ar (the Sudan), wezzeg (Nigerian Sahel),
cram- cram (Sahel), initi (Mauritania), Indian sandbur (India).
Description
A tufted annual up to 90 cm high with flat, rigid leaf blades.
False spikes 3-15 cm long, dense; spikelets 3.5-5 mm long, surrounded by
a rigid involucre 4-7 mm long, the outer bristles short and spiny, retrorsely
scabrid becoming spreading, the inner flattened with ciliate margins (Napper,
1965).
Distribution
Throughout tropical Africa and India, usually on sandy soils.
Season of growth
Summer.
Altitude range
Sea-level to 500 m.
Rainfall requirements
It occurs in the 400-500 mm rainfall area in Kordofan Province,
the Sudan, with an eight-month dry season.
Drought tolerance
Being an annual it escapes drought by early seeding.
Soil requirements
It is usually found on sandy soils in arid and semi-arid regions
such as Mauritania (Boudet & Duverger, 1961) and the Sudan (Skerman,
1966) and is often secondary after cultivation.
Sowing methods
Seeds are usually distributed by grazing animals, to which
the mature burs adhere.
Vigour of growth and growth
rhythm
It grows vigorously during the wet season and flowers in August
(Mauritania) and is standing hay from February to June (Boudet & Duverger,
1961).
Grazing management
It is rarely managed. Grazing before seeding is preferable
because of higher nutritive value.
Dry-matter and green-matter
yields
An above-ground biomass of 590 kg/ha from this and associated
grasses has been reported from Senegal (Morel & Bourlière, 1962)
and of 600 kg/ha at Kanem, Chad in 1961 (Gillet, 1967).
Suitability for hay and
silage
It makes good hay if cut before the burs harden.
Value as a standover or
deferred feed
It is one of the best available standover feeds in the Sahel
after its seed bur has shed. Being an annual, it does not last long.
Optimum temperature for
growth
Adapted to hot, dry tropical areas with a short growing season.
Frost tolerance
It generally occurs in areas free from frost.
Palatability
It is readily eaten in the preflowering stage and after the
seed bur has shed.
Natural habitat
In bush, and as a weed on disturbed land.
Tolerance to flooding
It does not have any flood tolerance.
Compatibility with other
grasses and legumes
It is associated with the leguminous gum arabic tree (Acacia
senegal) in the Sahel of northern Africa.
Genetics and reproduction
2n=30, 34 (Fedorov, 1974).
Economics
It is abundant in the African Sahel in low-rainfall woodland
savannah on sand and as "ephemeral prairie", providing rich and valuable
wet season grazing from June to August and standing hay later. It is being
used in de-desertification on the Thar Desert of Rajasthan (Aggarwal &
Lahini, 1977). In times of scarcity the seeds are eaten by humans (Bor,
1960).
Further reading
Boudet & Duverger, 1961; Whyte, 1968.
Animal performance
No records of animal performance have been located.
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