Evaluating the drought tolerance of three Brachiaria grass cultivar.
The increasing effects of climate change threaten the livelihoods and wellbeing of many people by generating unfavorable environmental conditions, which lead to negative results in the development, growth and the production of many plant species. The objective of this experiment was to identify drought tolerant cultivars among the three studied Brachiaria species (B. brizantha CIAT 26110, B. ruziziensis x B. brizantha CIAT 36061 and B. ruziziensis x decumbens cv) using controlled water irrigation. The evaluation consisted of three treatments based on water availability levels, where treatment W50 had adequate amount of water, treatment W30 had moderate amount of water and treatment W10 had a low amount of water. The collected data was water potential (WP) in bars, above ground biomass (AGB) in grams, below ground biomass (BGB) in grams and total biomass (TB) in grams. Statistical analysis was conducted for each cultivar across treatments using analysis of variance in Software R. In the water deficit treatment of below ground biomass, species B. brizantha CIAT 26110 and B. ruziziensis x B. brizantha CIAT 36061 had similar growth while B. ruziziensis x decumbens cv had experienced water stress and gained less below ground biomass. In above ground biomass, all the three species had statistically similar growth. However, species B. brizantha CIAT 26110 and B. ruziziensis x B. brizantha CIAT 36061 demonstrated morphological and physiological drought tolerance potential and are recommended for use as animal feed during dry seasons to reduce shortfalls in animal forage availability and ensure rural farmer livelihoods in Africa.
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis biblioteca |
| Language: | eng |
| Published: |
Universidad EARTH
2018-12
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| Subjects: | BRACHIARIA, RESISTENCIA A LA SEQUIA, POTENCIAL HIDRICO DEL SUELO, BIOMASA, https://purl.org/pe-repo/ocde/ford#4.01.01, |
| Online Access: | https://repositorio.earth.ac.cr/handle/UEARTH/372 |
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