Effect of Age at Harvest and Manure or Fertilizer Application on Quality of Vicia villosa Roth

This study was conducted in Kenya over 15 weeks to determine the effect of manure or fertilizer application on quality of Vicia villosa Roth. After field preparation, 60 plots of 2x2 m2 size were then demarcated and divided into 5 similar units comprising of 4 blocks of 3 plots each and independently allotted to 3 treatments in a Randomized Complete Block (RCB) design. Treatments were: T1-control (No fertilizer), T2 and T3 received beef cattle manure and fertilizer, respectively. All units were planted on the same day and harvested at 6, 8, 10, 12 and 14 weeks, in a sequential manner, starting with unit 1-5. All the blocks in each unit were harvested on the same day and the entire freshly harvested materials (per plot) were weighed. Representative grab samples were collected, chopped to pieces of 2 cm length, mixed and 2 composite samples (500 g each) were then taken for dry matter determination and chemical analysis following standard procedures. Yield of nutrients was also determined. Collected data was stored in MS-Excel and analyzed using SAS. From the results it was observed that, NDF in T1, T2 and T3 increased by 19.7, 14.1 and 19.2% between 6 and 14 weeks, respectively. ANOVA showed that treatment had effect on DMY (r2 = 0.7341; p< 0.01) at 14 weeks but not on CPY (r2 = 0.3705; p>0.05). Mean ME concentration in the forage was not influenced by either manure or fertilizer application. Strong correlation between nutrients and V. villosa age at harvest was observed. It was therefore concluded that, though fertilization had no effect on nutrient content, it improved their overall yield.