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Graminae
Synonyms
Paspalum scoparium Flügge.
Common names
Imperial (South America), maicillo (Peru), cachi (Central America).
Description
An upright perennial bunch grass 1.5-2 m tall with solid and
succulent stems, leaf-blades 5-20 mm wide, and numerous slender erect or
ascending racemes 10-20 cm long, aggregated toward the summit of the stem,
spikelets 2.5-3 mm long, appressed, short-villous. The leaves are blunt-ended
and hairy.
Distribution
Tropical America Colombia to Brazil.
Season of growth
Summer.
Altitude range
It thrives best at 600-1 200 m in Panama, 1 200-2 000 m in
Colombia and 2 500 m in Costa Rica, but grows at 300 m in the eastern Llanos
where nights are cool.
Rainfall requirements
It grows best in areas of high rainfall, well distributed (Rattray,
1973).
Drought tolerance
It will tolerate drought on deep soils.
Soil requirements
It prefers well-drained soils, such as sandy and alluvial soils
well supplied with organic matter.
Land preparation for establishment
A well-prepared seed-bed ploughed to 15-20 cm.
Sowing methods
It is propagated by division of clumps at a recommended spacing
of 60 x 60 cm in furrows. It requires about 2 tonnes per hectare of clumps
(Whyte, Moir & Cooper, 1959).
Response to defoliation
It does not persist well under grazing. It is basically a "cut-
and-carry" grass.
Grazing management
Introduce the cattle when the grass is 80-100 cm high and remove
them when the grass is grazed down to 20-25 cm. Renovate to break up compacted
soil and reduce weeds.
Dry-matter and green-matter
yields
At Turrialba, Costa Rica, imperial grass gave a yield of up
to 42 000 kg DM/ha with an application of nitrogen and potash (de Alba,
Basadre & Mason, 1956). Dry forage yields range from 10 000-14 000
kg/ha without fertilizer, but are doubled with 50 kg N/ha after each harvest
(four to six years) (Crowder, Chaverra & Lotero, 1970).
Suitability for hay and
silage
It is widely used for silage in Colombia (Crowder, Chaverra
& Lotero, 1970) and is persistent only when cut (Göhl, 1975).P
Cultivars
Vegetative material of two selections, Imperial ICA Clone 60
and Clone 72, is distributed by Tulio Ospina Station (Crowder, Chaverra
& Lotero, 1970).
Diseases
A bacterial disease caused by Xanthomonas axonoperis reduces
or eliminates the pasture. It is spread by farmers' machetes or grazing
animals. Disease- free fields are maintained with clean stem pieces for
establishment and by cutting with a machete dipped in disinfectant (Crowder,
Chaverra & Lotero, 1970).
Minimum temperature for
growth
0°Cî
Frost tolerance
It will tolerate low temperatures to 0°C (Göhl, 1975).
Palatability
It is quite palatable.
Natural habitat
Moist ground.
Fertilizer requirements
With nitrogen and potassium, yields as high as 44 tonnes per
hectare were obtained, the effect of phosphorus was minor. Liming from
pH 4.7 to pH 5.2 affected the yield (de Alba, Basadre & Mason, 1956).
It responds favourably to applied nitrogen but less than many grasses.
Genetics and reproduction
2n=20 (Fedorov, 1974).
Economics
Cultivated as a soilage crop in Central and South America.
Animal production
No figures have been cited.
Further reading
Gonzalez & Pacheco, 1970.
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