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Graminae
Common names
Bano, bannu (the Sudan), lehmleiche (Mauritania).
Description
A short-lived grass up to 75 cm high. Panicle widely spreading,
up to 15 cm long, with long-pedicelled yellow-green or purplish spikelets
1030 cm long (Napper, 1965).
Distribution
Throughout tropical Africa, India and Burma in low rainfall
areas.
Season of growth
Summer.
Altitude range
1 000-1 750 m.
Soil requirements
It is a sand-loving species, being found in 29 out of 35 sandy
sites in Mauritania (Boudet & Duverger, 1961).
Vigour of growth and growth
rhythm
In the Sahel it begins growth in August and is standing hay
through to June (Boudet & Duverger, 1961). It can make a second crop
in the same season under favourable conditions.
Palatability
It is quite palatable.
Natural habitat
Sandy soils, common in abandoned cultivation.
Genetics and reproduction
2n=20 (Fedorov, 1974).
Economics
This annual grass grows abundantly in old cultivations in the
lighter soils in Kordofan Province, the Sudan and is cut and carried into
the villages to feed village livestock such as cattle, donkeys, goats and
sheep.
Further reading
Boudet & Duverger, 1961.
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