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Graminae
Synonyms
E. nubica (Steud.) Thell.
Description
An annual, 15-100 cm high with linear leaf-blades. Inflorescence
narrow, of up to ten racemes 2-4 cm long, with biseriate aristulate silky
spikelets, having the basal beadlike internode pale or purplish. Spikelets
obtuse without a bristle (Napper, 1965). Differs from Brachiaria in having
a tiny beadlike swelling below each spikelet (Rose-Innes, 1977).
Distribution
Throughout tropical Africa. Introduced to India and Australia.
Altitude range
500-1 750 m.
Rainfall requirements
About 250 mm per year (Bogdan & Pratt, 1967).
Drought tolerance
Being an annual, it has little drought tolerance, but escapes
it by early seeding.
Soil requirements
It prefers the heavier alluvial silts and black cotton soils
but will adapt to loams (Bogdan & Pratt, 1967).
Sowing time and rate
Early wet season at about 1.1 kg/ha (Bogdan & Pratt, 1967).
Number of seeds per kg.
1.1 million spikelets with one seed (Bogdan & Pratt, 1967).
Palatability
It is quite palatable.
Chemical analysis and
digestibility
It maintains its nutritive value well, and at full flowering
may still contain 10 percent crude protein in the dry matter (Bogdan &
Pratt, 1967).
Natural habitat
Damp and swampy places in grassland and on lake shores, on
heavy soils.
Tolerance to flooding
It tolerates seasonal flooding.
Genetics and reproduction
2n=36.
Seed production and harvesting
It seeds well, with each spikelet containing a single caryopsis,
but the seed sheds easily and is difficult to harvest (Bogdan & Pratt,
1967).
Economics
Adapts well to dry or wet conditions, being found in the Sudan
in dry arid localities and also in inundated fields in Central Africa.
It is eaten by all stock (Bor, 1960).
Animal production
Bogdan and Pratt (1967) recommend this grass for reseeding
denuded alluvial flats in Kenya's arid zone where seasonal flooding occurs.
Further reading
Bogdan & Pratt, 1967.
Tolerance to salinity
Tolerant to slightly saline soils on lagoon flats (Rose- Innes,
1977).
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