Screening of Different Bracharia Accessions Tolerant to Acid Soils in Awi Zone, Ethiopia

The experiment was conducted to screen acidic soil tolerant bracharia accessions. It was conducted in Awi Zone Banja research station with soil PH of 4.69. Seven bracharia grass accessions (BD14720, BD14721, BR13332, BR14743, BR14771, BR14777 and BR14813 were used as treatment materials. Randomized complete block design was used for the experiment. The collected data were analyzed using ANOVA procedure of SAS version 9.4. Dry matter yield was found higher in accessions BD14720 and BR14813. No difference was recorded on CP yield per hectare between bracharia accessions. DM, Ash, OM, CP, NDF, ADF, ADL and IVDMD were showed high difference between treatments. The organic matter content was higher for BD14720 bracharia variety/accession. The CP percentage was higher for BR14771, BR14743 and BR13332, 9.82, 9.72 and 7.57, respectively. In case of areas where feed availability is major problem, forage varieties which give higher dry biomass yield could be more preferable. The crude protein requirement could be fulfilled through supplementation of protein source feeds. Therefore, BD14720, BR14813, BR14777 and BD14721 accessions in ascending order would be appropriate alternative feed resources for acidic soils of Awi Zone.