Sesbania rostrata Brem.

Leguminosae

Common name

(P)rostrate sesbania

Description

Tall annual species, becoming perennial under favourable conditions, 1-3 m high, erect, leafy, growing during the short rainy season.

Habitat

Its ecology is quite similar to that of Aeschynomene indica.

Soil

Found on deep clayey alluvial soils, periodically flooded or water-logged.

Distribution

S. rostrata is a typical Sahelian species.

Products & uses

Unlike Aeschynomene, it is not palatable, its main characteristic is its high nitrogen fixing ability that makes it particularly useful for crop rotations with rice, as a green manure or for making a rich compost as the plant contains some 4 % N₂ (25 % CP). This richness in nitrogen, particularly in a species growing in water-logged soils, is due to the existence of aerial stem nodules of the so-called aeschynomenoid type (not the only such species). The amount of nitrogen added by a good crop of Sesbania rostrata is evaluated at 60-240 kg / ha / yr ; that is : the increase in rice yield resulting from the utilization of Sesbania as green manure corresponds to a dressing of this amount of pure nitrogen. A good crop of Sesbania, with 500,000 plants per hectare, produces 4,000-5,000 kg DM in 55-60 days. i.e. 160-200 kg of pure nitrogen equivalent. Specialists in nitrogen fixation research reckon this is a fixing power still higher than in soya bean.

Links:

• Nodulation: Short description of the species and the nodulation features; references
• Production of S. rostrata in Rice Cropping System in Rural Bangladesh: Article
• Effets des engrais verts et des rotations de cultures sur la productivité des sols au Mali: Article (in French)
• Nucleotide Sequence of Two Histone H4 cDNAs: Article with links to plant gene register index; references
• Trap crop for pests: Information about S. rostrata as a trap crop for soybean stink bugs; references
• Translocation of amino compounds in stem nodulating S. rostrata: Article with photograph
• A hint for growing S. rostrata

Links for the genus:

• The perennial Sesbania species: Information about origins, adaptation, areas of use etc.

References

Berhaut 1976 ; Dreyfus & Dommergues 1980 ; Diara & Camara 1989 ; Dommergues et al. 1999.