Effects of light intensity on growth and nutritive value of Brachiaria humidicola

Koronivia grass is a common name for Brachiaria humidicola sp. and it is a leafy, procumbent, creeping, stoloniferous perennial tropical grass. Brachiaria humidicola is tolerant of poor drainage and can withstand short term flooding in valley bottoms. It has been shown that decreasing light intensities may affect the arrangements of plant leaf tissues such as mesophyll cell volume (Chabot and Chabot 1977), amount of vascular and support tissues, and cuticle thickness (Wilkinson and Beard 1975). General objective for this research was to investigate the nutritive value and growth response of Brachiaria humidicola (koronivia grass) towards light intensity. The research hypothesis was light intensity have significant effects on the growth and nutritive value of Brachiaria humidicola, while the specific objectives were to determine the dry matter production per hectare of koronivia grass towards different light intensity, to determine the nutritive value of koronivia grass towards different light intensity and to determine the botanical composition and leaf-stem ratio of koronivia grass towards different light intensity. The response of koronivia grass to sunlight intensity were assessed in two month of experiment from early August until September 2016 at the Field 15, Universiti Putra Malaysia using randomized complete block design (RCBD). The treatment was the intensity of light (100% (full sunlight), (50% sunlight (partial shade)) and (30% sunlight (70% shade)) that were manipulated by black shading net imposed on wood frame with 5 feet height x 3m wide and was arranged in the 2 x 3 plotting system. The production, morphological aspects and nutritive value were assessed in this project. The grass was sampled and cut 3 inches height above the ground level at 18 days for each cycle. There were significant different (P