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Graminae
Synonyms
U. helopus (Trin.) Stapf; Panicum controversum Steud.
Common names
Liverseed grass (Australia), Kuri millet (Zimbabwe), garden
urochloa (South Africa).
Description
A tufted annual with culms 6-60 cm high, sometimes decumbent
and rooting from the lower nodes, usually with flowering branches from
several of them. Leaves usually loosely to densely hairy with tubercle-based
hairs blades up to 12 mm wide, expanded, light green, margins thickened
and crinkled. Inflorescence up to 8 cm long of two to seven racemes up
to 6 cm long; spikelets 4-5 mm long, solitary and almost sessile, forming
two regular rows; glumes unequal, the lower one-quarter to one-third as
long as the spikelet. This small lower glume readily distinguishes it from
other South African species (Chippendall, 1955). Variety panicoides has
glabrous spikelets, var. pubescens has pubescent spikelets (Simon, 1980).
Distribution
Tropical Africa, Australia, Fiji and India.
Season of growth
Summer.
Altitude range
Sea-level to 1 750 m.
Rainfall requirements
It is best suited to a moderate annual rainfall of 675800 mm.
Drought tolerance
Not very good; it grows vigorously in wet summers, seeds and
dies out.
Soil requirements
It occurs mainly on black cracking clays in Queensland's Darling
Downs and northern New South Wales.
Ability to spread naturally
In Queensland it seeds heavily and spreads rapidly by seed;
especially vegetating overgrazed or bare areas on black clay downs.
Sowing methods
Drilled with suitable seed drill, or broadcast.
Sowing depth and cover
Surface sown or to depths of 1-1.5 cm and rolled after planting;
a press wheel behind the seed chute can also be used.
Number of seeds per kg.
497 000.
Tolerance to herbicides
It can itself become a weed; pasture with U. panicoides often
requires an additional cultivation of land being fallowed for winter cereals.
One litre of 50-percent 2,4-D amine per hectare will destroy seedlings.
Seedling vigour
Very vigorous.
Vigour of growth and growth
rhythm
It germinates in spring and early summer and grows during summer.
It seeds in late summer and dies out in autumn.
Response to defoliation
It gives only limited summer feed and does not stand constant
grazing.
Grazing management
It is usually grazed only when necessary.
Response to fire
When it is dry enough to burn it has ceased its vegetative
growth for the season.
Dry-matter and green-matter
yields
Good yields have been reported, without supporting figures,
from India (665 mm rainfall) and Hawaii (1 500 mm rainfall); moderate to
poor yields have been harvested in Fiji, southern Africa and Kenya (Whiteman
& Gillard, 1971).
Suitability for hay and
silage
In India, hay made from U. panicoides was able to maintain
experimental sheep in positive nitrogen balance, and provided maintenance.
Value as a standover or
deferred feed
It is quite useful if allowed to stand over, and it is not
adversely affected by wet weather. Being an annual it does not last long
in the mature state.
Toxicity
It has been reported as occasionally toxic; nitrate content
of 0.884.9 percent potassium nitrate-equivalent in the dry matter has been
recorded. Grass with levels of nitrate exceeding about 1.5 percent potassium
nitrate-equivalent is potentially toxic (Everist, 1974).
Cultivars
There are no registered cultivars.
Main attributes
Its colonization of overgrazed and bare black clays to control
Salvia reflexa and Xanthium spinosum in Queensland; its feed value (Milford,
1960a, b).
Main deficiencies
Its annual nature and its heavy seeding; its good germination
of seedlings means that pastures may require an extra cultivation to eliminate
U. panicoides from summer grain crops.
Optimum temperature for
growth
25-40°C.
Minimum temperature for
growth
About 15°C.
Frost tolerance
It is susceptible to frost; the leaves become brittle.
Response to light
In its native habitat it occurs in damp places or partial shade.
Ability to compete with
weeds
It can suppress annual weeds. It was used on the Darling Downs,
Queensland, to vegetate overgrazed and bare areas to exclude Salvia reflexa
and Xanthium spinosum.
Maximum germination and
quality required for sale
70 percent pure seed, and 20 percent minimum germination with
a maximum of 29.5 percent inert material in Queensland.
Palatability
It is very palatable.
Chemical analysis and
digestibility
In India, Sen and Ray (1964) recorded 5.8 percent crude protein,
33.3 percent crude fibre, 13.2 percent ash, 1.4 percent ether extract,
46.3 percent nitrogen-free extract, 0.51 percent calcium and 0.31 percent
phosphorus in the dry matter.
Dougall and Bogdan (1960) in Kenya recorded 14.7 crude protein, 29.9
percent crude fibre, 14.9 percent ash, 1.7 percent ether extract and 38.8
percent nitrogen-free extract in the dry matter of fresh material in late
bloom. Milford (1960a, b) showed it to contain 14 percent crude protein
in the young growth, dropping to 5 percent in dry and frosted material
during the winter, with digestibility ranging from 57 to 34 percent.
Natural habitat
Sandy soils and loams, grassland and as a weed.
Tolerance to flooding
It will not survive the wet season in Fiji.
Fertilizer requirements
It is usually not fertilized on the Darling Downs, Queensland,
which is inherently quite a fertile area.
Compatibility with other
grasses and legumes
It generally dominates the areas it occupies during its life
cycle.
Genetics and reproduction
The somatic chromosome number is 2n=30, 36 (Fedorov, 1974).
Seed production and harvesting
Liverseed grass seeds heavily and could be harvested by pick-up
harvester.
Animal production
During four summer months U. panicoides maintained 27 sheep
per hectare. This was substantially more than Chloris gayana but less than
Paspalum scrobiculatum (Partridge, 1955).
Further reading
Smith, 1940; Whiteman & Gillard, 1971; Whittet, 1965.
Dormancy
The seed requires some post-harvest ripening and should be
held for 13 weeks at 34.5-44.9°C (Harty, 1972). Seed germinates at
20°C, moistened with KNO3 solution.
Value for erosion control
It was considered valuable for controlling wind and water erosion
from the black clays of the Darling Downs, Queensland, but it has since
been replaced by perennial grasses such as Cenchrus ciliaris, and it has
tended to become a weed in land bare-fallowed for wheat. It is used in
southern Africa to give a quick cover on denuded grassland.
Tolerance to salinity
No record has been found. It grows on soils of pH 7.07.5 on
the Darling Downs, Queensland.
Land preparation for planting
It needs some soil disturbance and a loose mulch in which the
seed can germinate. Full seed-bed preparation is preferred.
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