Abstract

Participatory on farm improved forage species evaluation was conducted at Keelewe Peasant association of Dassench Woreda of South Omo Zone in the 2014 under irrigated condition using the improved forage legumes to identify the adaptable and high biomass yielding forage species. The field experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with four replications per tested species. The improved forage legume species tested in this study were Lablab purpureus, Lablab intoritum and Vigna unguiculatium. The dry matter yield obtained in this study revealed that there was none significance difference (p > 0.05) among the tested improved forage legume species in the study area. The dry matter yield production potential of tested species under irrigated condition in to the study area is 15.91, 14.16 and 15.40 t/ha for Lablab intoritum, Lablab purpureus and Vagigna ungulatium respectively. Out of the tested forge legume species over cropping season under irrigated condition, the one which gave the maximum dry matter yield was Lablab intoritum which gave (16 tones ha-1) and Vagigna ungulatium (15.40 tones ha-1) are advisable for the study areas. Therefore, it is imperative to evaluate the forage species for more seasons under similar condition and in addition to their feeding value under different intervention, chemical composition, their response to the disease and pest resistance, seed producing potential and dry matter production potential of species under supplementation different level of fertilizer rate.