Available herbage sustainability under soil and water conservation for development of small ruminants

Abstract

Experiment was aimed to evaluate different model of composition of forage crops of alley cropping systems. It was conducted at the Village of Musuk, Boyolali District, Central Java Province, Indonesia from April to September 2009. The experimental site is located at 260 m above the sea level with daily average temperature and humidity, respectively, were 25.9oC and 79%. A block randomized design with 5 treatments and 3 replications was used to arrange the experiment. Treatments consisted of M1: two rows of Gamal (Gliricidia sepium) (72 plants) sourrounded by 100 plants of Pennisetum purpureum; M2: 72 Gamals, 100 P. purpureum, 100 katuk (Souporus androgynus); M3: 79 Gamal (added-seven Gamals from west to east across the middle plot of land), 100 P. purpureum, and 100 katuk; M4: 79 Gamal (added-seven Gamals from north to south across the middle plot of land), 100 P. purpureum, and 100 katuk; M5: 85 Gamal (added-thirteen Gamals from west to east and north to south across the middle plot of land), 100 P. purpureum, and 100 katuk. ANOVA was used to analysis data statistically and Duncan test was employed for further analysis. Experiment resulted that alley cropping model influenced the total herbage yield of Gamal, P. purpureum, and katuk (S. androgynus). The highest height of crops and dry matter yield were reached
by the M4.