Evaluation of exotic accessions of guinea grass (Panicum maximum Jacq.)

Thirty six exotic accessions of Panicum maximum from ILRI, Ethiopia were evaluated for nineteen characters including several metric, qualitative parameters and were compared with the already existing variability in the indigenous collections. The introduced germplasm has appreciable variation for characters such as, plant height, leaf and flower characters as well as for crude protein content. The promising accessions consisting of desirable characteristics were identified and their potential to guinea grass improvement is discussed.