SITI YUHAENI and D.A. IVORY

Forage Research Project, Balai Penelitian Ternak, Ciawi, Indonesia

Abstract

The agronomic performance of 88 herbaceous legumes, including 65 different species in 19 genera, was evaluated in one experiment and 39 shrub and tree legumes, including 18 different species and 3 unidentified species from 10 genera, were evaluated in 2 experiments, in small, single row plots over 3 years at Ciawi, West Java. A number of agronomic attributes were measured or estimated by visual ranking at monthly intervals to assess establishment/persistence, vigour, yield, disease/pest resistance, habit, drought resistance and reproductive capacity. Multivariate classification analysis was used to group accessions with similar agronomic performance in 2 experiments. A fourth experiment contained only 13 tree accessions and therefore did not warrant classification analysis. Leaf damage to Leucaena accessions caused by the leucaena psyllid in the three tree experiments was assessed.
Following initial assessment without defoliation, the herbaceous and tree legume experiments were cut 4 times over a 17-month period and 5 times over a 20-month period, respectively. The most persistent and highest yielding herbaceous legume species were: Stylosanthes guianensis cvv. Graham, Cook and Endeavour, S. scabra cv. Seca, S. hamata cv. Verano, Neonotonia wightii cvv. Tinaroo and Clarence, Clitoria ternatea and Pueraria phaseoloides. Promising species for possible use in communal grazing areas and in cropping systems were also identified. The highest yielding tree species was Calliandra calothyrsus. High yields were also produced by Leucaena leucocephala prior to the appearance of the leucaena psyllid insect early in 1986. Some variation in susceptibility to the psyllid was recorded between accessions. Other promising species were: Gliricidia sepium, Sesbania formosa, S. sesban, Desmodium rensonii and Codariocalyx gyroides.