R.A. BRAY¹, B. PALMER² and T.M. IBRAHIM³

¹CSIRO Division of Tropical Crops and Pastures, St. Lucia, and
²Davies Laboratory, Townsville, Queensland, Australia
³Instalasi Peternakan Sei Putih, Galang, Sumut, Indonesia

Abstract

Twenty-one shrub legume accessions were grown at 2 sites in Indonesia and 2 in Australia, and repeatedly harvested to estimate leaf and stem production. Two fertiliser treatments (nil and complete) were imposed at each site. There were major effects of fertiliser at the 2 most infertile sites [Silkwood (Australia) and Sembawa (Indonesia)]. No shrub legume entry grew consistently well across sites without fertiliser. Some species did not persist more than one year, but produced quite high yields. These included Cajanus cajan, Codariocalyx gyroides and Sesbania sesban. These species may be of use as protein banks during the establishment of more perennial species. Leucaena leucocephala did not grow well at the 2 most infertile sites, and was badly affected by the leucaena psyllid at both Australian sites. Overall, the highest yielding species were Calliandra calothyrsus, Acacia angustissima, Gliricidia sepium, L. diversifolia and L. pallida. There was a good relationship between leaf production of entries at the 2 Australian sites, and between the 2 very acid sites, but only with the fertilised treatment.