Productivity of Alfalfa, Rhodes Grass and Their Mixtures in Arid Conditions Under Sprinklers

The presently existing dominant perennial forages like Rhodes grass, alfalfa and their mixtures were investigated from January 1998 to August 1999 for their productivity as a part of ICARDA’s Arabian Peninsula Research Program (APRP) at Rumais in the Batinah Coast of the Sultanate of Oman. The results indicated that the Rhodes grass varieties produced significantly (P< 0.01) higher green (230.50 - 306.10 t/ha-1) and dry matter yields (52.39 - 67.48 t/ha-1) during the period. followed by the mixture treatments (green matter: 223.51 - 241.76 tfha" and dry matter: 49.02 - 53.11 t/ha-1) and alfalfa cultivars (green matter: 182.05 - 184.04 t/ha-1 and dry matter: 40.83-44.67 t/ha-1). Among the Rhodes grass varieties, Callide had a very high significant yield potential (P<0.05) in terms of both green and dry matter yields followed by Katambora and Topcut, a newly introduced variety. In alfalfa, both cultivars produced similar (P> 0.05) green matter (182.05 - 184.04 film") and dry matter (40.83 44.67 t/ha-1) yields. Among the mixtures, both green and dry matter yields of l: 2 mixture of Alfalfa and Rhodes grass were significantly higher than the other two mixture proportions i.e. 1:1 and 2:1 (P<0.05).