Effect of Stocking Rate on Rhodes Grass-Stylo Pasture in the Northern Guinea Savanna Zone of Nigeria 1. Herbage Yield

The potential herbage production of Rhodes grass (Chloris gayana cv. Callide)•stylo (Stylosanthes gulanensis cv. Cook) pasture was assessed during S (late wet to dry season) periods at Shika, Nigeria. The pasture received 200 kg N and 30 kg P/ha during the first (198S- 1986) and fifth (1989-1990) grazing periods (GP). Some P only was applied in other periods. The stocking rates (SR) were 12, 18, 24, 30 and 36 Yankasa sheep/ha while the duration of grazing varied from 1S4 to 210 days. Sty lo, with production below 1.0 Vha, was eliminated in the first year of utilisation, During the grazing periods, the herbage mass of stem, leaf and stem + leaf of Rhodes grass, green material and total herbage were highest in the ungrazed control and declined as SR and grazing days increased. Mean yields of other species were not affected by SR except in the last GP. There is a need to incorporate persistent legumes in C. gayana pasture for sheep grazing.