Cultivation And Use Of Moringa As A Nutritional And Medicinal Supplement For Goats In Central Namibia

Abstract

Trees and shrubs can serve as fodder to supplement shortages of feed for livestock, particularly in arid and semiarid environments where palatable grasses or browse plants could be limited due to low rainfall pattern and constant droughts. However, in Namibia moringa tree species (spp.) have the potential to curb shortage of feeds for livestock. A completely randomized design (CRD) was used in this study to compare the performance of M. ovalifolia and M. oleifera with respect to seedling emergence and seedling establishment. Seeds of the two Moringa species were sown in a nursery in 253 polythene bags (149 for M. oleifera and 104 for M. ovalifolia) at two centimetre uniform sowing depths. Seedling emergence were recorded and the life stages by (LSB) heights of seedlings were measured from the ground surface to the tip of the plant leaves, using a 30-centimeter ruler with the ruler placed vertically along-side the plant. The parameters measured were seedling emergence difference and seedling LSB height. Moringa ovalifolia had a higher seedling emergence of 99.03% (206 out of 208 seeds) compared to M. oleifera that had 15.06% (75 out of 298 seeds). Also, M. ovalifolia emerged faster (started emergence on the 7th day and completed on the 18th day) than M. oleifera (started on the 11th day and completed on the 28th day). Conversely, M. oleifera had faster seedling establishment, with an overall average height of 18.77 cm compared to M. ovalifolia which had slower LSB height over time with 13.25cm average height. An independent sample t-test results revealed that M. oleifera and M. ovalifolia mean of

seedling emergence and emergence days were significantly different (P < 0.05), which indicated that the two Moringa species had differences in emerged seedlings and number of days. Furthermore, LSB heights per week of the two Moringa species were significantly different (p < 0.05). Therefore, from the results, the null hypothesis (H01) that Moringa species were not different in emergence and LSB heights was rejected.

Keywords: Emergence, LSB height, Moringa oleifera, Moringa ovalifolia, nursery