Evaluation of Herbaceous Range Plants in Early and Late Rainy Season at Butana Area.

Abstract

A study was conducted in early and late rainy season of 2009 at Butana (Hawata area) to estimate grasses: forbs ratio with maturity and to evaluate the nutritive value in terms of chemical composition for natural pastures in grazed and ungrazed area . Samples of forbs and grasses were taken by the quadrates method. Forbs and grasses composition was calculated and chemical analysis was carried out for proximate content. The results revealed that in Butana forbs level was higher than grasses, and the ratio of forbs to grasses was 82.6% in early to 17.4% in late season. Chemical analysis of the samples revealed that the crude protein of forbs in the early and late season for grazed sites and ungrazed sites were 22.4% and 22.6% ,respectively, and for the late season of the same sites were 20.2%, and 17.1%. However, crude protein content of grasses for the same periods and sites were 14.8%%, and 13.3 % (early), 17.4% and 14.4% (late), in early and late rainy season respectively. The crude protein content of pasture decreased and ash content increased significantly (P<0.001) with increasing maturity of the plants. The study confirmed that animals prefer forbs to grasses as indicated by the decrease of forbs in grazed site than in the not grazed site