Department of Animal Nutrition, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh-2202, Bangladesh
Online published on 29 December, 2011.
Mixed crop of maize and cowpea were grown as a forage crop after mixing seeds in different proportions i.e. 100% maize (T1),75% maize+25% cowpea (T2), 50% maize + 50% cowpea (T3),25% maize e +5% cowpea, (T4) and 100% cowpea (T5) to study the effect of mixed cropping on forage yield, chemical composition and in vitro digestibillty of forages. Green forage production (t/ha) was maximum in T2 (28.5) and lowest in T5 (18.4). DM production was significantly (P<0.05) higher in T2 as compared to other rteatments. CP contents increased and EE and NFE decreased gradually from T1 to T5. DM, OM, CF and Ash content was not significantly different among the various treatments. There was no significant difference in the in vitro digestibility of OM and CF among the all treatments. However, DM digestibility apparently increased from T1 to T5 and CP digestibility increased progressively and significantly (P<0.01) over T1. The results indicated that mixed cropping of forage maize and cowpea using seed rate of 75% maize and 25% cowpea could improve forage availability.
