|
Graminae
Common names
Bungoma grass (Kenya).
Description
A rhizomatous perennial, 60-120 cm high, glabrous except for
the usually bearded nodes, leaf-blades flat, 10 mm wide. Inflorescence
over 15 cm long with solitary, dense racemes 2-3 cm long appressed to the
axis, having glabrous, green spikelets 4.5-5 mm long (Napper, 1965).
Distribution
Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and southern tropical Africa in sandy
and swampy places by rivers and in miombo.
Season of growth
Summer.
Altitude range
1 000-2 000 m in Tanzania.
Rainfall requirements
A wet-land species.
Number of seeds per kg.
300 000.
Response to defoliation
Cutting at intervals of one or two weeks affected the crop
but at four- to eight-week intervals dry-matter production was increased
with successive harvests (Mwakha, 1970).
Cultivars
A composite named Nzoia K6819 was selected at Kitale, Kenya.
Chemical analysis and
digestibility
Herbage contained 19.5 percent dry matter, with 26.5 percent
crude protein and 25.1 percent crude fibre (Mwakha, 1970).
Natural habitat
It occurs naturally on vlei soils in swampy river valleys in
East Africa (Mwakha, 1971).
Tolerance to flooding
It will withstand flooding.
Further reading
Mwakha, 1970.
|
