Quality assessment of Urochloa (syn. Brachiaria) seeds produced in Cameroon

Abstract

Urochloa (syn. Brachiaria) is the most popular fodder of livestock farmers in Cameroon for hay and seed productions. Farmers in Cameroon have been producing Brachiaria seeds for decades for own uses and surplus are sold to neighbours, and to traders from Cameroon and neighbouring countries. However, there is no information available about qualities of these seeds. Fifteen Urochloa seeds samples were collected from farmers and/or government stations in five regions (Adamaoua, East, North, North West, and West) and analysed for major seed quality parameters along with seeds of improved Urochloa cultivar Basilisk imported from Brazil as a check. Study showed significant differences among treatments for various seed quality parameters tested (P < 0.0001). The highest thousand grains weight was recorded in Basilisk (5.685 g), followed by W12 (3.555 g), A05 (3.153 g) and N01 (2.655 g). Caryopsis number and caryopsis weight were highest in Basilisk followed by E09, A06, and W12. Of three conditions tested for seed germination, mean germination was the highest in greenhouse (7.39%) where Basilisk had the highest germination (25.5%) followed by N01 (18.50%), A05 (14.50%) and W12 (12.75%). The seed viability ranged from 18% (E09) to 81% (N01), and there were a positive and highly significant relationships between seed germination and viability traits (r = 0.883; P < 0.0001). This study showed a marked difference in seed quality parameters of Urochloa grass seeds produced in Cameroon, and the potential of developing Urochloa grass seed business in the Northern, Adamaoua and Western regions of Cameroon.

Association between seed production traits in Urochloa spp.

“…Therefore, larger seeds can lead to a higher WTEC value. For this trait, in a similar study, a value of 4.4 g was found per thousand caryopsis weight for U. decumbens (Clémence-Aggy et al, 2021). In the present work, the WTEC values ranged between 2.06 g and 2.46 g (Figure 2).…”

“…The results by Clémence‐Aggy et al. (2021) for Urochloa seed samples varied from 1.54 g to 5.7 g for THSW. Considering U. brizantha , Catuchi et al.…”

“…The Urochloa genus (syn. Brachiaria ) comprises the most extensively forage species cultivated in the tropical Americas and is an important species for Latin America livestock production (Clémence‐Aggy et al., 2021; Jank et al., 2014). Commercial species of this genus are native to East Africa and, in the 20th century, were introduced into tropical Latin America as natural accessions of germplasm (Triviño et al., 2017).…”

The effect of cutting regime and genotype on growth, seed yield, seed quality and herbage yield of seven Urochloa (syn. Brachiaria) grass genotypes in the Adamawa region of Cameroon

“…( syn. Brachiaria ) is among the forage species cultivated in Cameroon for quality hay and seed production (Aggy et al, 2021). It is a climate smart forage that belongs to the family Poaceae (González et al, 2005).…”

“…The genus Urochloa consists of about 100 species distributed across the tropics and subtropics of the eastern and western hemispheres (; Renvoize et al, 1996). Urochloa grass has been appreciated and adopted widely because of several desirable characteristics of agricultural and environmental importance (Aggy et al, 2021; Fisher et al, 1994; Fisher & Kerridge, 1996; Ghimire et al, 2015; Njarui et al, 2016;).…”