What is desmodium good for?
Greenleaf desmodium is mainly used as a fodder legume. It can be grazed as a long-term pasture, cut and offered fresh in cut-and-carry systems, or cut from irrigated pastures for conservation as hay or silage.
What is desmodium grass?
Desmodium is a large perennial tropical forage legume. It does better at altitudes between 500 and 2500 m in the tropics. It grows well on slopes. It can be grown in areas where annual rainfall is above 900 mm and up to 3000 mm.
What type of fruit is desmodium?
lomentaceous fruits
Desmodium species have lomentaceous fruits (Fig. 1). While uncinate trichomes were observed, other types can occur, including uniseriate, globose and subulate. Loments of some Desmodium species were sinuous at both edges, or the upper edge was straight, while the lower was wavy (Fig.
What is the botanical name for desmodium?
Desmodium
Tick clover/Scientific names
How does Desmodium look like?
Desmodium is a trailing or climbing perennial legume with small leaves and deep roots which, in favourable conditions, forms very dense ground cover. Green leaf desmodium is leafer with reddish brown to purplish spots on the upper surface of the leaves and reddish brown stems.
How do you grow Desmodium in Kenya?
Use 3–5 kg/ha (2 kg/acre) desmodium seeds. During planting, mix seed with 2 bags of TSP or 4 bags of SSP fertilizer. Farmers can also use 5–10 t/ha of well-decomposed farmyard manure. Drill the seed into shallow furrows 2.5 cm deep spaced at 30 cm or 50 cm; cover with little soil.
How long does desmodium take to mature?
Harvesting starts at four months, and is done by cutting 10cm or higher above soil. Spread in the sun for a few hours to wilt before feeding. Three to six kilos of green harvested desmodium should be fed to a cow in the place of 1 to 2kg of commercial concentrate. Excess desmodium can be dried and baled into hay.
How do you grow desmodium grass?
Drill the seed into shallow furrows 2.5 cm deep spaced at 30 cm or 50 cm; cover with little soil. For intercropping with Napier grass, make furrows between or along the Napier rows and drill desmodium seed and fertilizer mixture in the furrows. Use mature parts of desmodium vines. Use freshly cut vines.
What is Desmodium in English?
Desmodium is a genus in the flowering plant family Fabaceae, sometimes called tick-trefoil, tick clover, hitch hikers or beggar lice. There are dozens of species and the delimitation of the genus has shifted much over time.
Why is it called tick trefoil?
Tick trefoil flowers have the familiar shape of all pea-family flowers. Tick trefoils have compound leaves with three leaflets, thus the name “trefoil.” Tick trefoils live in a variety of habitats. This one was growing in an upland forest in the Ozarks.
How do you grow desmodium?
Is desmodium a vine?
Usually a long-lived creeping or scrambling vine with stems up to 1.5 m long. Its stems are densely covered with hooked or curved hairs and readily adhere to skin or clothing. Its alternately arranged leaves are compound with three leaflets…
Why is silverleaf Desmodium considered a weed in Hawaii?
Silverleaf desmodium is considered a weed in Australia and Hawaii because it can outcompete native species ( AWC, 2011; US Forest Service, 2011 ). In association with a maize crop, silverleaf desmodium may help in controlling Striga hermonthica, a deleterious parasitic weed of maize, due to an allelopathic action ( Labrada, 2003 ).
How big does a silverleaf Desmodium plant get?
Silverleaf desmodium ( Desmodium uncinatum (Jacq.) DC.) is a trailing perennial legume that may grow up to several meters long over surrounding vegetation. It has a large but shallow root system.
What kind of protein does silverleaf Desmodium have?
Silverleaf desmodium has a relatively poor nutritive value for a legume. Its protein content is in the 12-21% DM range, with an average of 15% DM, and it contains very high levels of lignin and fibre (more than 40% ADF).
How big are the seeds of Desmodium uncinatum?
The seeds are olive-green in colour, triangle or oval shaped, 3 mm long x 2 mm wide ( Ecocrop, 2011; FAO, 2011; Cook et al., 2005, Hacker, 1992 ). Desmodium uncinatum is mainly used as fodder. It can be used for pasture, deferred feed, cut-and-carry and hay ( Ecocrop, 2011; FAO, 2011; Hacker, 1992 ).