Propagation, Forage Production And Forage Quality Of Some Ghanaian Browse Plants

ABSTRACT Experiments were carried out to examine the ease of establishment of some native browse species through both seed and stem cuttings, the forage production from these browse species and the nutritive quality of the forage produced as livestock feed. Five experiments were therefore conducted to address the problem. Experiment I: The objective of this experiment was to test in vitro techniques for breaking the dormancy of the seed of some native browse plants. Germination tests were performed, after no treatment (control) soaking in warm water, immersion in hot water and mechanical scarification, on the seed of ten browse plants namely: Cajanus cajan, Dialium guineense, Afzelia africana, Khaya senegalensis, Grewia carpinifolia, Pithecellobium dulce, Albizia lebbek, Milettia thonningii, Baphia nitida and Griffonia simplicifolia. The experimental design was 10x4 factorial arranged in a completely randomised design with four replicates. The factors were the ten browse species and the four seed treatment methods. Percentage germination was high (54-98%) with mechanical scarification for all the species except Grewia carpinifolia and Khaya senegalensis (11-16%). The other treatments also gave high percentage germination (above 48%) with the exception of Grewia carpinifolia, Khaya senegalensis and Dialium guineense which were very low (5-41%). Number of days taken to germinate in the different browse species was significantly shorter (P