Forage legumes in the Western Llanos of Venezuela

In the Western llanos of Venezuela, attempts to identify productive and persistent grass - legume associations have not, so far, been who11y successful. In view of the difficulties involved in the management under grazing of legumes in association, a programme of research was developed to evaluate the potential of a range of 10 legume species for hay making. When cut at the pre-, or early bloom stage, the leaf to stem ratio ranged from 0.69 to 2.23, while after drying, the range was from 0.39 to 1.63. The CP content of the leaf (16.4 to 33.1%) and stem (7.0 to 14.8%) resulted in whole plant contents from 12.9 to 26.1%. Best species for hay making were Desmodium ovalifolium, Centrosema pubescens, Alysicarpus vaginalis and Macroptilium atropurpureum, although brittleness of the dry stems makes D. ovalifolium risky. Annual species regrew if cut in the prebloom stage, provided that moisture and nutrient supply were both adequate