Screening of Napier Grass (Pennisetum Purpureum) Accessions Tolerant to Acid Soils in Some Areas of Ethiopia

A chronic feed deficit is found in highland agro-ecology. The study was conducted at Banja sub-station in Banja district of Awi administrative zone, Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia for three consecutive years during 2016 to 2018 cropping seasons, to evaluate the adaptable and promising Napier grass accessions that can tolerate acidic soil and to analyze the nutrient content of Napier grass accessions. Ten Napier grass accessions 15743, 16783, 16791, 16792, 16794, 16813, 16815, 16817, 16819 and local check. were evaluated for their agronomic traits and its chemical composition in randomized complete block design with three replications. Data on plant height number of tillers, leaf to stem ratio, fresh biomass yield, dry matter yield and chemical composition were analyzed using the general linear model procedures of SAS and least significance difference was used for mean comparisons. The combined analysis of variance indicated that the main effect differences among genotypes, years and the interaction effects vary significantly for measured agronomic traits. The combined analysis for plant height significantly (P<0.05) different, which ranged from 71.6 to 178.5 cm with a mean of 103.3 cm. The local accession gave the highest mean plant height followed by accession 16791 and 16815 while accession 16783 gave the lowest over years. The highest mean dry matter yield was recorded in 16791 (10.5 t/ha) followed by Local(9.7 t/ha) and 15743(7.5 t/ha).The combined analysis indicated that dry matter yield varied significantly (P<0.05) among the tested accessions and the yield ranged from 3.9 to 10.5 t/ha with a mean of 6.4 t/ha. The combined analysis for CP significantly (P<0.05) different, which ranged from 5.4 to 7% with a mean of 6.12%. Generally, Napier grass accessions respond differently across the testing years due to differential responses of the genotypes to various edaphic, climatic and biotic factors. It is suggested that Napier grass should be harvested at appropriate time in order to have high nutritive values with relatively high biomass production. Therefore, among tested genotypes 16791 and 15743 Napier grass accessions will be promoted in the study area and similar environment.