Registration of Elephant Grass (Pennisetum purpureum) Variety ‘Hararghe’

Elephant grass could play an important role in providing a considerable amount of quality forage for mixed farming system. It can provide a continual supply of green forage throughout the year and is best fit for intensive small-scale farming systems with appropriate management practices for cut and carry feeding systems in East Hararghe Zone. Thus, the study aimed to identify and register high herbage biomass yield, high quality, disease and pest tolerant elephant grass variety. One candidate variety, Hararghe (ILRI-16803) of elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum) was evaluated with two standard checks (Zehone-02 and Bako- 01) at six locations under rain fed conditions. All agronomic practices recommended were applied uniformly. Data were collected on morphological, agronomic and yield traits. Out of the tested varieties, Hararghe (ILRI-16803) variety had higher herbage dry matter yield, tiller number, leaf to stem ratio, stable performance and tolerance to major elephant grass diseases. The new variety is also characterized by medium plant height and less hairiness which are associated with preference for high in take by animals. The variety had high herbage dry matter yield with average yield of 45.24 t/ha and showing yield advantage of 31.17% over standard checks. The study also showed that Hararghe (ILRI-16803) had high nutritional quality when compared to standard check varieties. Generally, it was found to be the most stable and high-yielding, high nutritional quality and tolerance to major elephant grass diseases and pests. Based such merits, the Ethiopian Variety Release Standing Committee has officially approved the release of the new variety (ILRI-16803) with the breeder name “Hararghe” for wider production in East Hararghe zone and similar agro-ecologies of the country.